Merepeka Raukawa-Tait: No 8 wire attitude with a twist

Ian Taylor (pictured in 2012) told his story in Rotorua recently. Photo / File

Bugger the boxing. Pour the concrete anyway. It's this No8 wire attitude that doesn't go down too well today. Frowned upon in some quarters even. Yet it has served us well over the years. New Zealanders are known for using the No8 wire approach to many of life's challenges, including business. But today it's the planned approach to business that's required. Not everyone agrees, thankfully.

Ian Taylor, of Animation Research, for one. He believes it's exactly this attitude we should continue to promote. Probably today we could substitute No8 wire with innovation. Innovation is encouraged and promoted at every turn in business. Ian believes it's what we do with, and how we apply, the No8 wire attitude that can make a big difference in business.

I have to admit I wasn't looking forward to hearing Ian as the after-dinner speaker at a recent function I attended. I'm off after-dinner speakers. Many of them are plain boring. Particularly the so-called celebrity ones.

Just because you have read the weather, played great rugby or fronted a TV programme doesn't necessarily mean you can successfully transform yourself into an entertaining and credible speaker. But Ian Taylor was a pleasure to listen to. What you have, as Ian himself emphasised, is a kid from Raupunga who grew up and created opportunities for himself and his business.

He fell in love with Dunedin and it's from there he runs his multi-million-dollar animation business. Ian even admitted he has never written a business plan. Here we go again, bugger the boxing. It was refreshing to hear a successful businessman speaking with candour. But don't think for one minute it's all been plain sailing. It hasn't.

Ian said at one time he had to tell his team in Dunedin he would only be able to hold the business above water for two months. He would understand if they started to look for another job. No one left. And somehow he managed to hang on.

Ian's story is one of true grit. He says when money is tight you have to apply lateral thinking.

Create your own opportunities. You have to believe in yourself. Like when he pitched for the America's Cup tracking system. Nobody believed he could do it and would be successful. But he did. And today he owns and runs a very successful animation company out of Dunedin. And you don't have to relocate your business overseas either.

From the time he landed in Dunedin, Ian knew that was where he wanted to make his home and do business. He never wants to leave the place. How's that for loyalty. He said New Zealand has all the expertise his company requires.

We have the smartest computer programmers and software developers in the world. I saw this for myself in the United States recently where one business hires our smartest and brightest computer whizzes. And Ian keeps pushing for young New Zealanders to stretch themselves in this space.

He actually believes we can take on the world in software design. But you have to couple this with "knowing why I'm here".

Ian refuses to let an opportunity go by. He has often been up against companies with millions of dollars at their disposal. Yet off he goes, all around the world to the US, Spain, Dubai, UK and other countries pitching successfully for business. Then he figures out how to deliver.

Bugger the boxing yet again. But don't be fooled into thinking he's not deadly serious about business. Of course he is. He has a team of 40 people working hard to use technology in ways that we can only dream of at present. But Ian will make them a reality. It's in this virtual space that he now concentrates his efforts.

He referred to it as the titi -- our migratory bird that searches the globe for economic opportunities. It is connected to home, with a global view.

This sounds pretty much like No8 wire with a modern twist.

* Merepeka lives in Rotorua. She writes, speaks and broadcasts to thwart the spread of political correctness