Talking heads: Bryce Heard

What makes your day at work?


There are so many clever people with lots of knowledge at Forest Research - it's exciting doing research and development work and seeing it come through as products and services for our clients. There's so much good work required to be done in the whole forestry industry, and here you can develop some really stretching thoughts. Seeing committed and successful teams is great.

When did you become a manager?


I became a manager of a harvesting company in 1980 that worked on the big state-owned forests, and employed about 600 people. I worked my way through there to the Tasman Forestry company, and became managing director.

In 1996 I left the Fletcher group, and spent most of my time running my own business. I was dragged out of semi-retirement to join Forest Research - and it's been a great move.

What was the most important lesson you learned on your way up?


I discovered with some alarm that there's not necessarily a close correlation between wisdom, knowledge and capability in the more senior ranks of the corporate world.

I discovered that one of the things that drives people to seek promotion is a lack of self-confidence - they seek reinforcement through recognition. The higher they go, the lower their confidence becomes because the demands get higher. It's not true in all situations, but a lot of the time it is.

What has been your best moment in business?


I'm lucky, I had a great time as chief of Tasman Forestry when the company was growing. I also had a major court battle with the Crown for eight years, and coming out of that intact was satisfying. I've had many highlights, and had a rewarding life in forestry.

How have you dealt with the pitfalls in your career?


You get a few in corporate life, and I tend to do a great deal of thought and self-appraisal to try and work out what went wrong.

I'm honest with myself about the part I played in it, and resolve not to do it again. I then go forward with increased confidence from learning about it.

I talk to others around me about other ways I could have handled the situation.

What annoys you most?


Negative people. They are cancer in an organisation - they spread negativity and drag down positive people. They are water on the flames of progress. Negative people are a huge challenge, and quite often when you look at them closer you find low productivity and low self-confidence. I surround myself with forward-looking people.

If you were starting over again, what would you be?


Self-employed. I tend to be an individualistic type of person, and I think I'd function better self-employed than corporate. I also believe the really successful people in the world have built their own businesses.

What management wisdom is most overrated?


That corporate seniority equals cleverness and competence. There's also a lot written about management, and people make it far too complex. I think we need simplification - those that simplify and turn difficult problems into solutions are the ones we need.

Managers pay lots of money for consultants, and nine times out of 10 they give you the same conclusion you would have come to if you had spent the time on it yourself.

What will be the big business issue of the next decade?


We're racing ahead so fast with change - technological advances, transportation, globalisation, IT, etc. I think the human capability to manage this pace of change is going to be the limiting factor. We're seeing boom and bust cycles, and it's very difficult to measure value. I think we'll see a shift towards other values - global warming, greenhouse gas emissions, climate change. All of these issues will become as important as financial issues, because they are important to the globe.

How do you relax?


I go back to basics. I love spending time with my family, fishing and tramping. I spend time on my hobby farming business, and enjoy having time with kids. The simplicity and wisdom of kids is amazing.