Leaders Getting Coffee with Bruce Cotterill

• Episode 46: Chief Economist at Simplicity, Shamubeel Eaqub

  In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 46, our guest is Shamubeel Eaqub, Chief Economist at Simplicity. Shamubeel Eaqub came to prominence in New Zealand as a sought-after economist explaining his complicated world in simple terms to readers and viewers through the New Zealand media. At the time he was the Principal Economist at the NZ Institute of Economic Research. How he came to that position, from an immigrant boy at age 10 is a worthy story in itself. But this discussion is so much more. A typical Kiwi upbringing followed his arrival, and as a soccer mad kid he found his way quickly. He studied economics at Lincoln University in Canterbury and then launched a career that has seen this passionate economist make a massive contribution to his adopted country. During the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast, Shamubeel talks to Bruce Cotterill about his journey, new jobs in foreign cities and eventually success. But it is the study of the local and global economy that makes this story compulsive listening. The conversation covers topics as broad as local school funding and global military spending. Eaqub says that there is no question that New Zealand’s post covid recovery has been slower than other countries, and he cites our low productivity, slowing migration and fiscal weakness as key causes. And having researched and written extensively on New Zealand’s infrastructure deficit, it is this topic that makes for a most interesting discussion. But there are plenty of positives too. And in a world threatened by war and America’s tariffs, he cites the unique strength of our relationships around the world and the value we can provide to other countries as the platform from which our recovery can develop. This is a highly informative and entertaining conversation about New Zealand’s challenges and it’s opportunities, between two people who think and care about the future of New Zealand.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• Episode 45: Former CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand, Andrew Stone

  In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 45, our guest is Andrew Stone, former CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand and one of New Zealand’s most influential advisors to CEOs. Andrew Stone is steeped in advertising. He makes it his business to understand businesses and the consumers they seek to attract. And he’s good at doing so. So much so, he’s led some of New Zealand’s most influential advertising agencies at a time when they’ve been at their peak, with some of our biggest companies and even bigger campaigns. He cut his teeth in the advertising business with some of the best advertising agencies of the time. He learned the trade with Colenso in New Zealand and Saatchi & Saatchi in London before returning to New Zealand and eventually leading Saatchi’s in his home country. Along the way there’s been plenty of lessons; lessons that he proudly shares with experienced CEO’s and young people starting out. There’s a family man in there too, and you sense that the dinner table conversations over the years have left his two sons well equipped for their own future. In the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast, Andrew speaks to Bruce Cotterill about some of the big brands, and big personalities, he’s worked with. There’s some reminiscing about campaigns for Lion, Toyota, ASB Bank and others from the heyday of the industry in New Zealand. But there’s room for a thoughtful discussion on the impact of Artificial Intelligence on consumer behaviours and the advertising industry that will drive that behaviour. In his post advertising life, Andrew Stone has re-imagined himself as a consultant to CEO’s and Boards, helping to lead major transformation projects across rapidly changing industries. So there’s a great discussion about Telecom’s transition to Spark and many years later, Vodafone’s move to One NZ. Again, it’s the people who make the difference.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• Episode 44: University of California, Berkeley Professor and global entrepreneur, Dr David Teece

  In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 44, our guest is Dr. David Teece, one of New Zealand’s most successful entrepreneurs and a highly decorated university academic. David Teece left New Zealand as a young man having completed his Master’s degree at the University of Canterbury. His destination was the University of Pennsylvania where he would study for a second Master's degree and ultimately a PhD in Economics. That was the start of an amazing career in academia, one which included some of the top universities in the world. He taught at Pennsylvania and then Oxford and Stanford, before a professorship at the age of just 32 took him to University of California, Berkeley. That career has seen David Teece ranked as the worlds most cited scholar in the combined fields of business and management and Accenture’s list of the world’s Top 50 business intellectuals. But his career as an entrepreneur, managed in parallel with his academic career is where his success and influence are equally prevalent. He has built not one, but two global consulting firms specialising in the provision of economic, business, and financial consulting services to businesses and governments around the world. Along the way, he’s maintained his links to New Zealand. He participated in the Knowledgewave conference in 2001 and worked with Sir Stephen Tindall in the creation of KEA – Kiwi Expatriates Abroad – to leverage the networks, experiences and talents of the more than one million Kiwis who live overseas. And his extensive interests in farming and winemaking in the South Island keep him attached to his original roots. In the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast, Bruce Cotterill speaks to David Teece about his unique and fascinating career, one which has earned him Royal honours in the form of a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. And there is also plenty of discussion about the importance of good leadership from one of the world’s leading management thinkers, and some commentary on New Zealand’s place in the world, the current state of Donald Trump’s USA, and his thoughts on a troubled world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• Episode 43: Breast Cancer Foundation of New Zealand CEO, Ah-Leen Rayner

  In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 43, our guest is the CEO of the Breast Cancer Foundation of New Zealand, Ah-Leen Rayner. It would seem that a career in the creative arts would suit the skills and interests of Ah-Leen Rayner. And indeed she headed off, after what she admits was an unspectacular school life, to pursue an Arts degree. But it was anthropology, the study of humanity, that captured her attention. You get the sense that it still does. That study led to an early career in sales, selling to supermarkets. But that was before she was captured by global conglomerate 3M, a company she worked with for 17 years. Her tenure there included a period during which she was responsible for one of the Company’s biggest products. The Post It Note. Next came a six-year stint in the blokey environment of Kiwirail, where she was responsible for creating tourism opportunities out of what was predominantly a freight network. She calls it ‘creating an asset that connected our scenery with an international audience.’ That’s how creativity is applied to business. But as Covid came and went, she wanted to do something that aligned with her strong purpose orientation, something that did good for the community. About that time, the Breast Cancer Foundation was looking for a new CEO. The rest is history. In our latest Leaders Getting Coffee podcast, Ah-Leen Rayner speaks to Bruce Cotterill about that leadership journey and her four years at the helm of one of our largest, and most important, charities. The messages are well known. The importance of breast screening, mammograms and early detection. But there is more to the Breast Cancer story and we learn of the never-ending battle for funding, the unwillingness of consecutive governments to invest in the best drugs available, and the good news, the new initiatives and technologies being introduced. With our host calling the Breast Cancer Foundation as “by women, for women” we also get plenty of insight for how we can get men taking their own health as effectively as the women do. And here’s a hint, we blokes need those women to help us.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• Episode 42: Massey University Professor Emeritus, Paul Spoonley

  In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 42, our guest is Distinguished Professor Emeritus Paul Spoonley, of Massey University. Paul Spoonley is a career academic with a remarkable ability to explain complex matters in very straight-forward terms. But that straight forward manner is less surprising when we hear about someone who spent five years working in the freezing works,and later started writing his PhD thesis on that topic before abandoning it under pressure from the industry. And so a career in academia followed, and the independent thinker shows through in Spoonley’s discussion and in his attitude to the future of the country. If only the politicians would listen. Drawing heavily from his recent presentation entitled “The future of New Zealand: Demography as Desitny” Professor Spoonley conducts a wide-ranging discussion on the make-up of New Zealand and the challenges for our growing population. We learn that Auckland’s population is set to grow by up to 700,000 people in the next 13 years, and we discuss the implications of that growth for infrastructure, health services and education. Professor Spoonley discusses the reasons behind the most rapidly growing regions in the country. And we hear about how an ageing population at a time of declining fertility rates threatens the way of life we have come to enjoy. But there are solutions too, and plenty of advice for governments around the world who are grappling with immigration issues. Education, in particular, could become more relevant if greater access to apprenticeships was available and digital literacy more widely taught. This is a fascinating discussion, filled with insights from a man who has made the make-up of our societies his life’s work.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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