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One NZ CEO: "Elon Musk Is Years Ahead Of Everyone Else"

April 22, 2026 / 01:39:07

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I could kill you and no one would ever

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find out. What have I done?

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>> And we haven't even talked about the Ws

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yet here yet.

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>> I've got a McDonald's bag and I'm new.

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>> Jason Paris, who is he? Kid from

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Southland. I found out I had five half

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brothers. He had six boys, three

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different women. That's a lot to take

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in.

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>> He left straight away and didn't come

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back.

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>> You got no anger about that? He's not my

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dad. Do you forgive him? Are you

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familiar with imposter syndrome? I've

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got the imposter syndrome as a dad. I'm

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waiting for someone to tap me on the

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shoulder and go, "How the hell did you

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get here?"

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in Paris. Welcome to my podcast.

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>> Thanks very much for having me, Dom.

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>> Hey. And um congratulations. Today, uh

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the day that we're recording this is

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your sixth anniversary at 1 NZ.

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>> It is. Yeah. So, it's gone super fast.

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Uh more gray hair. Uh a little a little

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bit more experienced.

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>> I feel like you you've been rocking the

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silver fox look since your 30s, have

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you?

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>> Yeah, it's been it has been a while. And

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uh the beauty of going gray early is

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people say you haven't aged. So, uh

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yeah. So, I've uh I've rocked the silver

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fox look for for a while.

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>> Oh, well, you do. I think you look um

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and I'm not just pissing in your pocket

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here to get on the right side of you

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early in the podcast, but um you turned

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50 last week. I I think you look you're

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looking great. Maybe it's the dimples

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that give you that

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>> Oh, thank you.

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>> youthful look. Is this the longest job

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you've had in your corporate

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>> uh career?

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>> Uh no, the one before this it was 7

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years, but I've been in the telco

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industry now for kind of what that means

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15. So,

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>> longest industry uh I've uh I've been

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in.

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>> Where was the previous one? Was that

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Spark? Yeah.

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>> Yeah. So I took a took a job actually

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not with Vodafone New Zealand but to

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move across to London with my family

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>> and then at the last minute it changed

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and I got told I was CEO of New Zealand

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for Vodafone way back then. And so um

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our plans quickly reversed and uh and we

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stayed in Aliadawa which has been you

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know given what happened the last few

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years and co etc was a blessing in the

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in the scheme of things.

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>> Yeah. So um yeah let's run through your

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your career. Yeah. So, it's 1 NZ for the

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last six years, Spark before that. Um,

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let's go backwards.

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>> Uh, so I had a brief stint at Media

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Works in TV. Um, and then before that

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was TVN zed. And then, uh, before that

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was Nokia. Uh, and then before that was

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McDonald's uh, back in New Zealand. So,

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I had

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just four years uh, in London uh,

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working with Nokia. Um, and the rest of

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those jobs were uh, were were in were in

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New Zealand. And so mainly kind of tech

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industry stuff is uh what I've been what

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I've been in. Um and I'd include media

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in that as well because when I kind of

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came into the media industry in 2007

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um you know technology was starting to

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play a bigger part in uh in that

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industry too.

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>> Jeez, it's not a bad CV is it from for a

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kid from Southland with um out of

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tertiary education.

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>> Yeah. You've done all right. I've been

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pretty lucky and the the cool thing

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about it is uh I have haven't had to

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apply for too many of those those roles

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proactively. I've been shoulder tapped

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for whatever reason. Uh I think that's

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one of the beauties of the New Zealand

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marketplace is that you know it's a bit

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of a village and so um the relationships

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that you have often, you know, create

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create doors. In fact, my very first job

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um was on the way back from a rugby trip

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to the west coast and the rugby manager

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of the Southland team was the rugby

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manager of Trust Bank Southland and he

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said, "What are you thinking about

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doing? You want to come and work for

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me?" And so um that was my uh my pivot

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into uh into working into working life.

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Although I also got uh declined for

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teachers training college just before

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that too. So it was kind of a a forced a

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forced move because the teaching

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industry didn't want me way back in '92.

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>> Jeez. what they do for some male

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teachers now. Also, I saw the car when

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you pulled up today in Pod Lab. Not many

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school teachers driving cars like that.

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>> Yeah, I'm pretty lucky. That's uh Yeah,

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it's a it's a nice car. Saved up for two

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or three years for that one. And um

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yeah, it's uh kind of uh my little

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treat.

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>> Oh, good on you. Good on you. What would

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you say your

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>> It's not a Maserati or a twodoor sports

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car, though. It's a It's a good SUV,

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though.

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>> It is. It's a It's a sensible car for a

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for a man of your vintage.

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>> Okay, that's very nice. Um what would

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you say your top five um like career

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greatest hits are? Like surely the the

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transition from Vodafone to 1 and z the

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rebrand is one of them.

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>> Yeah. Vodafone to uh 1 Z. Um Telecom to

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Spark. Um

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>> Oh, you were part of that?

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>> Yeah. Yeah. Uh

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>> so this ain't your first radio?

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>> No. No. Um uh coming up with and and

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launching TVNZ on demand. Uh so that was

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a big a big kind of industry move. I'd

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say a pretty important asset for TV and

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Zed. Uh back then,

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um I didn't have anything to do with

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this, but when we were when I was at

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Media Works, uh the way that the team

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handled the Christ Church Canterbury

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earthquakes earthquakes and then the

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Japanese tsunami afterwards, um I was

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just delivering pizzas to the newsroom.

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It was really Mark Jennings that was

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leading it. But I was really proud of

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the culture that we built uh around

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around that time and the kind of do a

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lot with a little uh mentality. And then

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uh probably some of the product

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innovation that we did at McDonald's way

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back in the day. I remember coming up

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with the chicken Mcheese uh when I was

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in my uh Yes. Yes. Yes. And um uh so

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yeah, there's a there's a there's a few

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there's a few things from a professional

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perspective that I'm proud of and

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hopefully uh there's more to come.

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>> What what about um career uh greatest

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[ __ ]

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>> Uh the McDonald's placemats.

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>> Yeah. So that was a shocker uh putting

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>> What's the story there? So, uh, the

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advertising agency put a bunch of, um,

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faces in front of me and pictures and we

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were the sponsor of, um, the Small

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Whites, uh, um, which is the New Zealand

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football kind of, uh, campaign. And I I

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I thought that they were all signed off

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and uh, and they had the rights to them.

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And of course, I chose the one with the

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Maui Queen's grandson on it, which is

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very bad to be eating food off anyone

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from Maldi. 1.2 million

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tray mat place mats went out and that

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had to be uh had to be reprinted. So,

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wasn't uh wasn't a stellar moment in my

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uh in my in my career. So, I remember

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that one. Luckily, my boss was uh pretty

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supportive. Did you Did you have to make

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a phone call to him to let him That must

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have been a fun fun conversation.

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>> 1.2 million train maps have to be have

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to be recalled. So yeah, that wasn't a

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that wasn't that wasn't great. Um low

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lightss or any uh any structural change

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when you're having hard conversations

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about job losses. That that's the worst

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that keeps you um keeps you up at night.

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>> Um yeah, those would be the things that

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that are the most kind of draining. And

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then you have to remember that you're

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making the decision and having the

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conversation, but it's much worse for

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the person that you're having the

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conversation with, too.

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>> Actually, I'm I'm not surprised you said

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that cuz from um from my research and

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from what I know about your management

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style, um yeah, you like you're a real

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open door kind of guy. Um so yeah,

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something like um McDonald's place, m

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it's it's a bit of money lost. It's a

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stupid mistake, but um yeah, I'm not

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surprised that you said that about the

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people.

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>> Yeah, it's the worst. And uh you know,

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unfortunately with me, what you see is

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what you get. I'm the same person at

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home as I am at uh as I am at work. And

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uh anything that impacts people or if I

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feel like I've let them down in any way,

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whether it's family or friends and at

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work and and sometimes you get those

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things wrong and those are the things

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that you beat yourself up about the

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most.

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>> Yeah. Hey, we'll um dig deep into your

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into your management style and your

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theories and things. Um but first of

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all, let's go all the way back. So um

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Jason Paris, who is he? Kid from

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Southland.

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>> Yeah. proud Southlander. Uh born in

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Invagle. Uh solo mom. She was young uh

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16 and then uh my father uh he left

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straight away and didn't didn't come

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back. So I've he was never a part of my

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life until um he actually died and we

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went to his funeral in in uh in Christ

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Church. Had no had no connection with

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him. My mom's an incredible woman. Very

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strong. Uh a really privileged to have a

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young grandmother now. In fact, she was

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just up in the weekend playing shooting

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hoops with uh her grand her

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grandchildren. So that's cool. But at

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the time um solo mom 16 uh domestic

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purposes benefit uh kind of life being

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her teenage years being taken away from

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her by having a young young child. You

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know what a massive sacrifice.

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>> Were you were you an only child?

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>> Yeah. So mom uh didn't you know my

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father left straight away. didn't come

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back. And then for whatever reason um

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mom didn't have a relationship that uh

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stuck to a point where she would have

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another uh another child. And so it

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ended up being basically me and her and

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then uh my grandparents. So her mom and

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dad uh who um who kind of you know

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brought me up. So freezing worker stock

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uh right through my family. So my

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grandparents freezing workers, my uncle,

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my mom ended up after I got to the

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school age where she could go and uh be

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at the freezing works. In fact, she just

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retired last year from uh from Alliance

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Freezing Works where she was a meat

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inspector for a number of years.

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>> Yeah. So if you're if you've just turned

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50, she must be 66. Yeah. What are your

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um Yeah. What are your recollection of

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those years? Cuz you know, you and I are

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similar age. And um yeah, I remember

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when my my mom and dad broke up. I was I

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was from Palmer. Mom and dad broke up

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when I was about 10. And um there was

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only one other kid in my class, Craig,

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who had like like a was from a broken

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home. It was such a rare thing. Um yeah.

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Was it like embarrassing? Did you did

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you feel like you you know you didn't

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fit in or you felt different?

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>> No, not at all actually. Uh and

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uh

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I think there were a few broken homes.

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Um or actually I noticed some kids that

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were in homes that weren't broken that I

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wouldn't have want to been a part of

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either. you know, some some pretty tough

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situations that kids find themselves in.

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Um, well, I found themselves in back

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then and still find themselves in today.

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So, to be honest, although we didn't

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have a lot, I didn't realize it at all,

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you know. Um, we moved it moved a bit

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again, you know, social welfare,

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housing, all that type of type of thing.

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But, uh, I never feel like I never

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remember feeling that I was missing out

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on anything. And actually also most

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importantly that I couldn't do anything

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that I put my mind to either. If you my

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mom's kind of drummed into me if you

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work hard you give it your best then you

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can achieve achieve anything. And so

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>> it's only kind of now uh when I have you

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know privilege to have a nice car. They

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didn't realize we didn't have a nice

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car. But, um,

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it it it, you know, food on the table,

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bed, loving environment, uh, a mom that

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believed and supported in me. Um, and

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and actually I was I was lucky. I had a

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lot of positive positive role models. My

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grandparents, as I mentioned, my uncle,

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but also school teachers, um, sports

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coaches. So, it was a tough tough

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environment in Invar and Southland, but

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um I was surrounded by a bunch of great

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people.

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>> And did you have like a chip on your

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shoulder about your dad or anything? How

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did how did your mom sort of address

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that?

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>> No, not at all. Uh

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the probably the biggest chip on my

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shoulder was when we I had children

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myself and uh I realized that there are

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little moments that

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>> you know uh and this is a kind of a

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generalization that

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>> maybe your dad teaches you to back a

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back a trailer and that's not you know

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something that you would say now

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nowadays or put a um a hook on a on a um

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uh on a fishing fishing line. I hadn't

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been taught any of those traditional dad

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uh dad things. So, I'm having to YouTube

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them and teach and teach myself because

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I want to pass them on to my kids, both

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my boys and and my daughter to back a

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trailer and to and to fish um etc. When

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I went met my um my wife uh Ra, she

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wondered why I hadn't um sought out to

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reconnect with my father. Uh and I'd

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never really contemplated it. Um, and

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probably the reason was I didn't feel

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like I'd missed anything. Uh and

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so it wasn't really until um I started

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having we had our children where I was

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like hm maybe I did miss some miss miss

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something but it didn't wasn't enough to

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drive with me to reconnect then uh then

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either uh my grandparents lived in the

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same house for what would have been 20

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to 25 years after I was born and so he

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had plenty of time to And if ever was a

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small place, even though he moved to uh

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to Christ Church, if he wanted to find

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me, he could have. So, probably the only

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probably sadness is, you know, if if um

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you're a dad with a with a kid, uh it's

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probably when you're 17, you can make an

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excuse that you might be a little bit

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immature and

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>> and not be prepared to stick around, but

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you'd hope when you're 37 or or 47 that

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you might have some reflection and go,

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actually, you might want to reconnect

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with uh with your child. Um

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Unfortunately, he didn't he didn't want

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to.

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>> Yeah. You You got no anger about that?

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>> No. Because

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>> he's sort of indifferent to it.

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>> Yeah. And I um he I you know, I referred

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to him as my father. He's not my not my

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dad. Um

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>> your dad's a t I've got firm views on

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this having um you been involved in a

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family adoption and stuff. Like a dad's

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a title that's got to be earned.

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>> Yeah. Correct. And so that's just not

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how um

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>> how I how I see him. Um you know, unfort

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unfortunately he passed away. uh mom

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found out about it. We went to his

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funeral to pay our respects, but also uh

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find out about health history. Right. He

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died uh quite young. And so we want to

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know if there's anything that I need to

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watch out for or our kids needed to

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watch out for.

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>> That was a kind of a nice moment though

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because there um uh by all accounts, and

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this is a whole the the story of his

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funeral is a u a podcast in itself, but

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I found out I had five half brothers. I

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didn't know uh that existed. And we all

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found out about each other at the

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funeral. And so

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>> young younger than you, I'm assuming.

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>> I'm the eldest. So I went to the

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funeral. His this funeral was opened by

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someone who said, "I'm Robert's eldest

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son."

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>> And [ __ ]

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>> But my wife did say that. She'd heard

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about two two big bottles of spades by

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that point. She was like, "He's not the

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eldest son." And I'm like, "Shut up.

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We're only here to pay our respects. We

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don't want a KFC. Uh but over time uh

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over that funeral um a scene was created

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because people started to find out

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because um my uncle so my father's

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brother turned up and uh and he was from

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Chicago and uh and he mentioned to

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someone and then everyone at the funeral

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started to find out about uh me and then

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all of us found out about another set

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another two boys. So there was

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>> I like three sort of three family

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groups. Yeah. Yeah. So he had uh six

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boys to three different women.

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>> So Oh my god. Oh my god. That's a That's

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a lot to take in.

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>> Yeah.

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>> How many years ago was this? The

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funeral.

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>> Uh about what it been I'd say five five

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years ago. Five years ago now. And um

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it's also when I found out about my

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connection to Nahu which I didn't know

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existed at that time. and it set me on a

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journey to mainly for my kids to just

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see if the connection with that side of

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the family was something that would be

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meaningful um for them. So, um we've

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just started taking some gentle baby

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steps along along that journey. But

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yeah, man, that was a pretty

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mind-blowing experience where you find

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out well each you all find out you got

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five half brothers that you didn't know

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exist all at the same time at a funeral.

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So,

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>> it's it's a lot to unpack.

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>> It is a lot to unpack. It's a lot. Yeah,

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you need a lot of space to to Well, and

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have you got a relationship now with um

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your half brothers?

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>> Uh no, not really. No, like uh social

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media relationship.

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>> Mhm.

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>> You know, so

00:16:10

uh lots of um happy birthdays,

00:16:13

congratulations, that kind of that kind

00:16:15

of stuff.

00:16:16

>> It's a lot of extra free phones to hand

00:16:17

out.

00:16:18

>> It is. And like I said to I said to Ra,

00:16:21

like I don't get to spend enough time

00:16:23

with my family and my closest mates that

00:16:25

I've,

00:16:26

>> you know, known since I was five years

00:16:28

old. Uh let alone a whole bunch of other

00:16:30

people to um build a relationship. But,

00:16:33

you know, that might change when I have

00:16:34

more time. They're really good people.

00:16:36

Uh I really enjoyed uh catching up uh

00:16:38

catching up with them

00:16:40

>> and um

00:16:42

>> yeah, and who and who knows? But uh

00:16:45

yeah, all of us I think were taken by

00:16:47

surprise and have just kind of socially

00:16:49

stayed in contact and gone, how do we

00:16:51

even deal with that?

00:16:52

>> Yeah. And and what do you know about

00:16:54

your your father? Like was was he a good

00:16:56

dad to some of the other kids?

00:16:57

>> Not really.

00:16:58

>> No. So

00:16:58

>> well that must be pleasing in a way.

00:17:00

>> Yeah. Yeah. Like I think uh I don't I

00:17:03

think he was a father not a dad again

00:17:05

like that that that point. And don't

00:17:07

want to speak too ill of the of the

00:17:09

dead. Um there was a big funeral so

00:17:11

clearly he had a lot of friends. uh and

00:17:15

uh and people who liked him. Yeah. Um he

00:17:19

was very social. Uh big drinker, big

00:17:22

smoker and uh died of lung cancer. Um

00:17:27

>> the interesting thing was people would

00:17:29

come up to were coming up to me at the

00:17:30

funeral and would say

00:17:33

uh you know, we're so sorry we didn't

00:17:34

acknowledge you. And I and I said, oh,

00:17:36

it is what it is. He would say it is

00:17:39

what it is. And then I'd say something

00:17:40

else and they'd go he would say that and

00:17:42

then they'd tell you about and I said oh

00:17:44

I'm sports mad he was sports mad you

00:17:46

know people

00:17:48

and New Zealand is a sports mad and a

00:17:51

lot of people say it is what it is but

00:17:52

people you know kind of grabbing or

00:17:54

gravitating onto things that

00:17:56

>> uh were a connection uh and also you

00:17:59

know I probably have they said I had

00:18:01

some mannerisms and some ways of talking

00:18:03

or whatever that uh that reminded um

00:18:08

them of of him. So, without a doubt,

00:18:11

like when you have a child, you are, you

00:18:14

know, 50% 50%, you shake it up into a

00:18:17

cocktail mix and that's what you get.

00:18:19

So, I'm going to I'm going to have a bit

00:18:20

of uh a bit of connection with him. But

00:18:23

don't no regrets. No, like there's no I'

00:18:26

never never been a point in my life at

00:18:28

all where I've

00:18:30

uh regretted not um not reaching out

00:18:35

earlier and uh and connecting with him.

00:18:36

M I think that speaks volumes about your

00:18:39

mom and the job she did. So you never

00:18:41

felt like there was um like a gap or a

00:18:43

hole there. And did you did you when

00:18:46

when did you have an appreciation of

00:18:47

just how how badass she was and what a

00:18:50

good job she did? She you know cuz your

00:18:51

kids are 16 now, right? Same your kids

00:18:54

are the same sort of age as what your

00:18:55

mom was when she had you. You're still a

00:18:57

kid at that age.

00:18:58

>> Yeah.

00:18:58

>> Like did you did you have an

00:18:59

appreciation growing up that about your

00:19:01

mom or when did that come?

00:19:05

Suppose when you're growing up, you

00:19:06

don't really think about it, do you?

00:19:07

>> Well, no. Also, you know, like you're a

00:19:08

teenager, you're a bit of a [ __ ] too.

00:19:09

You don't think you're thinking about

00:19:10

yourself versus, you know, think about

00:19:13

teenage years, you know. Um, luckily,

00:19:16

our kids are a little bit different and

00:19:18

um and great and great kids.

00:19:20

>> I I think it was really when we had our

00:19:23

own children and realized how difficult

00:19:27

it is to bring up uh bring up a kid that

00:19:32

I appreciate it. And then also now that

00:19:34

I'm, you know, of this of this age,

00:19:37

putting kids aside, just the

00:19:39

relationship that I've got with with mom

00:19:41

with mom now and thinking about um how

00:19:45

difficult it must have been to be in her

00:19:48

situation uh and the sacrifices that she

00:19:50

that she made. But

00:19:54

it's I it's a it was I know use that

00:19:57

word a lot. It's a privilege like I got

00:19:59

given leadership at a very early age

00:20:01

like probably 3 years old to do stuff

00:20:03

right jobs around the house or

00:20:04

responsibility and that was three four

00:20:07

five six uh a lot of change in my life

00:20:10

which means

00:20:11

>> I actually I love change I love

00:20:13

industries and jobs and life that is

00:20:16

free flowing doesn't that doesn't uh

00:20:18

doesn't stress me stress me out at all

00:20:21

um and also I have a sense of I suppose

00:20:24

of positivity that Um,

00:20:27

if you put your mind to something,

00:20:30

you've got people, even just one person

00:20:31

in your life that believes in you and

00:20:34

sees that you've got potential and tells

00:20:35

you you've got potential, the world is

00:20:37

your oyster. So, from that background,

00:20:41

um, it's given me a hugely positive view

00:20:46

on life and potential of anyone from

00:20:50

anywhere across across the country. Uh,

00:20:52

and so, you know, um, it's another gift

00:20:55

that mom's given me.

00:20:57

>> Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. And it's it's

00:21:00

awesome that she's still, um, young

00:21:01

enough that, you know, you can tell her

00:21:03

these things and she knows how

00:21:04

appreciated she is and what an awesome

00:21:06

job she did.

00:21:07

>> And she's got a toy boy and Barry who's

00:21:09

64 and, uh, Barry

00:21:11

>> and Grandad Barry's uh, he's been around

00:21:13

for 20 years, so the entire uh, entire

00:21:17

uh, childhood of our of our kids. And

00:21:18

so, he is their grandfather. Um, and

00:21:20

he's a great man. So, um, yeah, we're

00:21:22

lucky to have him in, uh, in our lives

00:21:24

as as well. And maybe if they had met

00:21:25

earlier, then there might have been

00:21:27

another another child, but they met

00:21:28

later in life. And, um, and that's

00:21:31

great. And, uh, you know, they are

00:21:32

they're partners in crime.

00:21:34

>> Yeah. Do you know um, just one more

00:21:35

question about your dad. Do you know if

00:21:36

he like follow followed your career from

00:21:38

afar or anything like that?

00:21:40

>> No, not at all. No. Uh,

00:21:42

>> see, cuz he he must have been Well, you

00:21:43

lived in the same town, e, while you

00:21:45

were growing up.

00:21:45

>> No. So, he he moved. So from what I

00:21:49

understand is uh he moved from Invagle

00:21:52

to Christ Church pretty much straight

00:21:53

away and didn't uh and didn't come back

00:21:55

and um and if he did come back to

00:21:58

Invagle to see his parents or um his

00:22:01

brothers and sisters didn't uh didn't

00:22:03

seek me out. Uh and so yeah, it was

00:22:07

never like mom

00:22:09

never ever uh described him in a

00:22:12

negative way. Like um I it was only when

00:22:15

I was much older that I started asking

00:22:17

mom a little bit about about him that

00:22:20

you know she told me a little bit about

00:22:22

about what he's like and she's kept me

00:22:24

connected with his brothers and sisters.

00:22:26

Um, so my uncles and aunties, but they

00:22:29

were more like not proper uncles and

00:22:31

aunties, but kind of um friends, older

00:22:34

friends of ms, etc. And they've told me

00:22:36

a few stories along the way as uh as

00:22:38

well. Um, I knew he was a good athlete,

00:22:40

good long-distance runner. Uh, but you

00:22:44

know, um, I'd give him a break when he

00:22:46

was 17. I wouldn't have give I don't

00:22:48

give him a break when he was, you know,

00:22:50

47.

00:22:50

>> Yeah. Yeah. Do you forgive him?

00:22:55

>> It's a good question.

00:22:57

Well, I'm not sure I've got anything to

00:22:59

forgive him for because I don't feel

00:23:00

like I've missed out on anything. Um,

00:23:08

yeah, I'd like to I'd like to think that

00:23:11

he if he had his time again would regret

00:23:15

not being a dad

00:23:17

>> to me, but

00:23:20

>> I don't know.

00:23:21

>> Yeah,

00:23:22

>> I definitely would. But it's not like um

00:23:24

Yeah, it seems sad, like a waste of a

00:23:25

life in a way because it seems like it's

00:23:27

not just a mistake he made with you.

00:23:28

It's a mistake he made repeatedly with

00:23:30

>> Yeah, I can't speak I can't speak for my

00:23:33

um half brothers. And the fact that they

00:23:35

were all

00:23:36

>> at his funeral and um uh and were there

00:23:40

and uh opened up

00:23:42

>> uh I think he it's it's clearly he

00:23:45

improved uh over over time. Uh so so

00:23:51

that's so that's great. But um yeah, he

00:23:54

just he didn't play that role in in uh

00:23:57

in in my life. So yeah, like I bottom

00:24:00

line is I do forgive him because there's

00:24:02

nothing to forgive. Um but there's some

00:24:05

regret I think there.

00:24:07

>> Yeah.

00:24:07

>> Well, thanks for sharing that. I I

00:24:08

appreciate it. Is it hard to talk about

00:24:10

now or not really?

00:24:11

>> Uh no, not really. I think you know that

00:24:14

question you just asked then, do I

00:24:15

forgive him?

00:24:16

it it kind of struck an emotional chord

00:24:19

because it made me more reflective of

00:24:23

the life I've the relationship I've got

00:24:25

with my own children and how much I

00:24:27

value value that.

00:24:29

>> So it makes me sad that

00:24:32

someone that uh

00:24:35

>> you know was my father didn't value

00:24:38

that.

00:24:38

>> That's the sad part I think. And um

00:24:43

>> but I can't change that now. So yeah,

00:24:45

move on. Yeah, cuz you're um you're

00:24:47

you're you're very very much a hands-on

00:24:50

dad. Um I I saw a LinkedIn post a couple

00:24:52

of weeks ago um about you being invited

00:24:55

to some to some Starink launch in the

00:24:56

States, but it clashes with what is it

00:24:58

like your daughter's prize giving or

00:25:00

>> It was her year six graduation.

00:25:01

>> Bro, do it do it by FaceTime. Go over to

00:25:05

the Starling thing. Like you've been a

00:25:07

really good dad. You haven't missed

00:25:08

anything important, you know? Come on.

00:25:11

>> I think go to the Starling thing. I

00:25:13

think that's uh that is one of the um

00:25:15

results of uh not having a uh a dad in

00:25:20

my life and and my wife uh has unlocked

00:25:25

this is

00:25:28

I'm chasing to be the greatest dad

00:25:31

>> and I and I and I and I I'll never think

00:25:33

it's going to be good enough, you know?

00:25:35

So, you want to do more and more and

00:25:36

more and more and more and uh and I beat

00:25:38

myself up about about stuff. I'm getting

00:25:41

better at it. Um I don't think that the

00:25:44

year six graduation versus the Starlink

00:25:46

and SpaceX launch that was a deliberate

00:25:49

decision because I was, you know, and um

00:25:52

I talked to my daughter and I said, you

00:25:55

know, how this year six graduation, you

00:25:57

know, how big a deal it is. I didn't put

00:25:59

any pressure because I'm about to not go

00:26:00

and meet Elon Musk and go and watch this

00:26:03

rocket launch. She said, "Dad, it's the

00:26:05

biggest moment of my life."

00:26:07

>> And at that point, it was done. There

00:26:09

are going to be plenty more rocket

00:26:10

launches, hopefully plenty more

00:26:12

opportunities to go to SpaceX, but I'm

00:26:14

never going to get that year six

00:26:16

graduation back.

00:26:17

>> But don't get me wrong, I don't go to

00:26:19

every single thing that she would like

00:26:21

me to go to. So, uh, she had Athletics

00:26:24

Day two weeks ago.

00:26:26

>> Uh, I couldn't get to it. I know that

00:26:28

other moms and dads uh were there. So,

00:26:31

it's not every single event that I that

00:26:33

I get to, but it's the ones that either

00:26:35

really are really important to me, uh,

00:26:38

or really important to her or the or the

00:26:40

two boys. Uh, and I'm proud to say that

00:26:43

I haven't haven't missed that moment, a

00:26:45

moment. And, um, and I'm proud that

00:26:47

actually I've worked for organizations

00:26:49

and I've been in teams that have uh,

00:26:51

supported me to make it happen. And, and

00:26:53

I would, uh, I would I would them.

00:26:56

>> Good on you. I I think that's admirable.

00:26:58

But, devil's advocate. It'd be very easy

00:27:00

for you to say, "Listen, my dad didn't

00:27:02

come to any of my things and I turned

00:27:03

out fine."

00:27:04

>> Yeah, I know. But I So, I think it's

00:27:06

actually more of a That's why I I made

00:27:08

that observation. I think it's more of

00:27:11

potentially me driving it. Like, don't

00:27:13

get me wrong,

00:27:14

>> I think when my daughter was doing her

00:27:15

dance and doing her songs and I was,

00:27:19

>> you know, I think it was lovely for her

00:27:20

to see my smiling face, but selfishly,

00:27:23

it was even more lovely for me to see

00:27:24

her smiling her smiling face. and I

00:27:26

wouldn't want to wanted would have want

00:27:27

to be anywhere else than that than that

00:27:30

that that moment.

00:27:31

>> But you're right. Um,

00:27:34

I don't necessarily think that uh going

00:27:38

to those events

00:27:40

is a requirement to demonstrate your

00:27:43

love and your commitment to your to your

00:27:45

child

00:27:46

>> because there are a whole bunch of

00:27:48

people in in New Zealand that love their

00:27:51

kids uh as much as I love mine but don't

00:27:54

have the flexibility that I' that I've

00:27:56

got to be able to make make those

00:27:58

decisions.

00:27:58

>> Yeah. and uh and their kids, as you

00:28:00

said, are going to be super fine uh

00:28:03

because of it.

00:28:05

>> Yeah. One of the advantages of getting

00:28:07

to the the age that you and I are at now

00:28:08

is you realize just um how precious time

00:28:10

is and how fast things go. So the these

00:28:13

moments are going to be gone in the

00:28:14

blink of an eye. Like your kids are

00:28:15

going to be growing up before you know

00:28:16

it, and you're going to be like, "Where

00:28:17

the [ __ ] did the time go?" So it's good

00:28:19

that you're um you can be present and be

00:28:20

in the moment and recognize that stuff

00:28:23

in real time. My boss said to me,

00:28:24

because I'm really emotional about uh

00:28:27

Sam, uh he's got another year and then

00:28:29

he goes to university or does whatever

00:28:31

he wants to do. And um I was talking to

00:28:34

my boss and said, "Man, I'm feeling

00:28:36

really emotional about him potentially

00:28:38

moving out of home." And she said,

00:28:41

"That's not the worst part because if

00:28:42

they go to university, they get a whole

00:28:44

bunch of holidays and they've got no

00:28:46

money, so they're going to come and see

00:28:47

you. When they start working, uh they've

00:28:49

got a bit of money, they get four weeks

00:28:51

off. Guess how many of those weeks they

00:28:52

want to spend with mom and dad? None.

00:28:55

Unless you pay for them. So that's was

00:28:58

even more upsetting. So I am very

00:29:00

conscious that uh you know you don't you

00:29:03

don't get those uh those moments back

00:29:05

and and um but not just with your uh

00:29:08

with your kids,

00:29:10

with uh friends, with with your partner,

00:29:13

you know, um with your mom. I remember

00:29:17

uh just last week I I I drove into the

00:29:20

driveway and I just had this big really

00:29:24

strong uh feeling of missing my

00:29:26

grandfather who I would call

00:29:28

periodically and just check in and and

00:29:30

say good day. So I all those moments are

00:29:33

kind of nice reminder that uh they're

00:29:35

important ones not to miss.

00:29:37

>> Yeah. How long has your granddad been

00:29:39

gone? Oh,

00:29:44

>> he would be 20 years now.

00:29:46

>> Amazing. Yeah.

00:29:47

>> You just had this feeling out of the out

00:29:48

of the bolt bolt out of the blue.

00:29:50

>> Yeah.

00:29:50

>> It's funny that but I think I think

00:29:51

that's the um yeah the ultimate tribute

00:29:53

to like a family member that's passed

00:29:55

that 20 years on you they still hold a

00:29:58

space in your heart. I think that's

00:29:59

really cool.

00:30:00

>> No, I think that's the right way to look

00:30:02

at it. Right.

00:30:03

if you miss them.

00:30:10

>> 100%. What about what about Ra? So your

00:30:13

wife Ra um you've been married like 20

00:30:15

years.

00:30:16

>> Yes.

00:30:16

>> What's the meat cute? So you met you met

00:30:18

in Queenstown?

00:30:19

>> Yeah. So

00:30:20

>> love at first sight.

00:30:21

>> It was for me.

00:30:22

>> I remember I remember her uh I actually

00:30:26

said this to I said, "Remember when we

00:30:27

met each other on the 27th of December

00:30:29

and we were walking down the kind of

00:30:32

court this courtyard or mall strip and

00:30:35

we our eyes locked and that connection

00:30:38

and she's like what?" She had no idea.

00:30:42

She was with a group of friends, girls.

00:30:44

I was with a group of friends, boys. And

00:30:46

um

00:30:48

uh I saw her and thought, "Oh my god."

00:30:51

And uh she didn't even notice me. And

00:30:54

then later that night, we ended up being

00:30:57

in the same uh bar and we got there

00:31:02

first. Uh there was a table not similar

00:31:04

to this. There was four of us here.

00:31:06

There was nowhere else for the girls to

00:31:07

sit. They looked everywhere to go

00:31:09

somewhere else apart from sit with us.

00:31:11

And then they came in and then we were

00:31:13

like w and um uh she was from Oakland, I

00:31:16

was from Invagle. Uh we were having

00:31:19

quite a bit of banter about the north

00:31:20

versus south. I said to her, "Uh, can I

00:31:24

get you a drink?" And she said, "Uh,

00:31:26

well, I'm from Oakuckland, so of course,

00:31:28

uh, I only drink Ballinger." And I was

00:31:31

like, "Okay, is it some RTD?" I didn't

00:31:34

know what Ballinger was. So, I went to

00:31:35

the bar, not knowing that she was

00:31:37

joking, and said, "Can I have a Spates

00:31:39

and a Ballinger? Thank you." And he

00:31:41

said, "Are you sure you want a

00:31:42

Ballinger?" And I said, "Yep." And he

00:31:45

goes, "Once I open it, I can't take it

00:31:48

back." And I thought, it must be like

00:31:50

one of those $10 RTDs. And I looked back

00:31:52

at Ra and I was like, "Yeah, she's worth

00:31:53

the 10 bucks." And he came back and I

00:31:57

remember him saying, "That's $100." And

00:32:00

I was like, "What do you mean?" He go I

00:32:03

said, "What did I just buy?" He said,

00:32:04

"You just bought the most expensive

00:32:05

bottle in the bar." I said, "I don't

00:32:08

want it. Take it back." He goes, "I've

00:32:10

opened it." So I said, "Have you got

00:32:13

anything by the glass, which is your

00:32:15

cheapest?" And so uh I got poured one

00:32:19

glass of Ballinger, one glass of the

00:32:21

cheapest bubbles, told this table what

00:32:23

had happened. We did a blind taste test

00:32:26

with Rachel and she got it wrong.

00:32:28

>> She chose the cheap one is the expensive

00:32:31

Ballinger. In her defense, she'd never

00:32:33

tasted Ballinger herself at that point

00:32:35

in her life. So she had nothing to

00:32:36

benchmark it against. But it's a joke

00:32:38

within our um Yeah. within our our

00:32:40

friends and family that uh we both got

00:32:42

kind of suck it in that suck it in that

00:32:44

night and the rest is history. Yeah. And

00:32:46

she's um she's phenomenal, right? She's

00:32:48

like a Harvard educated lawyer. Is she a

00:32:51

partner in a law firm?

00:32:52

>> Yeah. So, and an author.

00:32:53

>> I always say she should be the one doing

00:32:57

these having these conversations. She is

00:32:59

so much more impressive than I am in

00:33:02

every facet. She's not she's s She'll

00:33:05

hate me for saying this. She's slightly

00:33:07

uncoordinated, but that's her only.

00:33:09

>> Yes. Perfect in every other way. So we

00:33:12

always joked hopefully the kids get my

00:33:14

coordination and everything else uh

00:33:16

everything else about her. Um but yeah

00:33:19

she uh she's a lawyer um she was a

00:33:22

partner in at Belgali for uh I think she

00:33:25

was the youngest partner or one of the

00:33:27

youngest partners made up partner for 10

00:33:29

years

00:33:30

and uh but I always wanted to write and

00:33:34

so um with each child um when she took

00:33:38

uh don't say it's time off because it's

00:33:40

not like time off when you're maternity

00:33:42

leave but when she was wasn't working at

00:33:45

work and was working at home bringing

00:33:46

the bringing her kids up. She wrote a

00:33:49

screenplay with her sister. Um she wrote

00:33:51

a play. She wrote a ch a children's

00:33:53

book. And so she's always been quite

00:33:55

creative and uh always wanted to be a

00:33:57

writer. So when I got the job offer to

00:34:00

go to Vodafone um in London, she

00:34:03

resigned from her law firm and that was

00:34:06

going to be the time where she was going

00:34:07

to write um in Europe. And then that

00:34:09

changed, but she'd resigned from her

00:34:11

partnership. Um, and so we stayed in New

00:34:14

Zealand, but she started to started to

00:34:16

think about writing. But it was only

00:34:19

uh what it would have been kind of 18

00:34:22

months ago, two years ago now, that she

00:34:24

decided to commit to it and enrolled

00:34:26

herself at the um uh at Oakland

00:34:30

University on the M's creative writing

00:34:32

course. And uh she won the Phoenix Prize

00:34:35

um a year ago because the the new

00:34:37

Phoenix Prize winner was uh announced

00:34:39

last night. And then um her book got

00:34:43

picked up by Hashet um the global

00:34:45

publisher

00:34:46

>> and it goes on sale in April in the US,

00:34:49

the Australian and the New Zealand

00:34:51

market um next year. And also her book's

00:34:56

been picked up by Stampede as a Netflix

00:34:59

series.

00:35:00

>> So she's amazing. I know. Incredible.

00:35:02

What's um so it's a novel?

00:35:04

>> I joke that it's so she's writing about

00:35:07

all the ways that she's thought about

00:35:09

killing me.

00:35:12

>> So it's a psychological thriller.

00:35:14

>> Like a how-to guy.

00:35:15

>> It's a psychological thriller. Uh and um

00:35:19

I remember uh we're having a

00:35:21

conversation and she said to me, you

00:35:23

know, I could kill you and no one would

00:35:26

ever find out. And I was like, what?

00:35:29

What have I done? So, I've always say

00:35:30

publicly if I ever go missing or

00:35:33

something happens to me and they go,

00:35:34

"Well, that was a surprise." Look at Ra.

00:35:36

It wasn't a surprise. I've misstepped

00:35:38

too many times and uh I've been I've

00:35:40

been taken out.

00:35:41

>> Well, she won't be able to use anything

00:35:42

that's um that's in the book slash

00:35:44

Netflix series.

00:35:45

>> Exactly. So, look, I'm really I'm really

00:35:47

proud of her. I read a lot of that genre

00:35:50

and um

00:35:52

uh and I've read uh her script her her

00:35:55

book now probably 30 times and all its

00:35:57

different variations, etc. There was

00:35:59

only two days where she didn't talk to

00:36:00

me because of some of the feedback that

00:36:02

I uh I gave her. Cuz you know, you think

00:36:04

about you're pouring your heart and soul

00:36:06

out into it. And I've got a very limited

00:36:09

vocabulary. And so when I'm trying to

00:36:12

find words to describe how I can help

00:36:15

make the book better, sometimes I can be

00:36:18

a little less sophisticated than I would

00:36:19

like like to be. But um

00:36:22

>> you need GPT. Another sentence for it's

00:36:24

a bit [ __ ]

00:36:27

And so she's done a phenomenal job and

00:36:29

um the book is book is amazing and uh

00:36:32

yeah and uh and she's um it's a two-book

00:36:35

deal that she was uh signed up for. So

00:36:38

>> she's about I think 25% through um her

00:36:41

next her next book her next book now.

00:36:44

>> That's incredible. Yeah. Wow. It's

00:36:46

incredible. Yeah.

00:36:47

>> And a Yeah. And a and a a grad from

00:36:49

Harvard with a masters in law where she

00:36:51

graduated first. Her dissertation at at

00:36:54

Harvard was published in the Wall Street

00:36:55

Journal.

00:36:56

like uh you know she is she's a super

00:37:00

and an amazing mom, great friend. Like

00:37:03

I'm very privileged.

00:37:04

>> [ __ ] you're proud, aren't you?

00:37:07

>> Ah, so proud. Like seriously. And you

00:37:09

know and uh but I it's not everything

00:37:12

that she's doing and the kids are doing.

00:37:14

She's just uh an incredible human being.

00:37:16

She's just a special person

00:37:19

>> really. What makes her so?

00:37:22

>> Selfless.

00:37:24

>> Yeah. Her first thought was about

00:37:25

everyone else before herself. Not like

00:37:27

that's just, you know, dissimilar to my

00:37:28

mom actually.

00:37:30

>> Uh well, they they say you you marry

00:37:32

someone like your mother.

00:37:33

>> Yeah. Yeah. And um uh and her parents

00:37:36

are the same. Um Liz and Jock,

00:37:38

incredible people. Um you know, who were

00:37:42

amazing parents to her as well. And I

00:37:44

think that's the the values that they

00:37:45

instilled in all of um

00:37:47

>> all of the kids that they had. So uh

00:37:49

yeah,

00:37:50

>> super super impressive. and her her um

00:37:53

uh her brother's uh got a very

00:37:55

successful career in finance. Uh he's

00:37:58

got his own fund that uh he's raised

00:38:01

money for and lots of investors are

00:38:02

trusting him in. Um and then uh her

00:38:06

sister Bridget is the country manager of

00:38:08

Zero. So um very successful uh family.

00:38:11

They're all um high achievers but uh

00:38:14

fantastic people first.

00:38:16

>> Yeah. And yeah, you guys are um power

00:38:18

couple like both um both big jobs. So,

00:38:21

how do you Yeah. What's the um what's

00:38:23

the home calendar like? How have you got

00:38:25

like a whiteboard? Is it a blackboard?

00:38:26

Is it a just a like a Google calendar?

00:38:28

Like how do you how do you make things

00:38:30

work with your various commitments?

00:38:31

>> Yeah, it's pretty chaotic. I would say

00:38:33

both uh Ra and I would say that the

00:38:36

thing um that we sacrifice the most uh

00:38:40

is our own relationship even though it's

00:38:43

super strong and full of love. Uh and

00:38:47

also our uh prioritizing ourselves. So,

00:38:51

I'd definitely like to go to the gym a

00:38:53

little bit more or um you know spend

00:38:57

more me time, but um we prioritize our

00:39:01

kids um our work, our friends, our

00:39:06

family, and then we'll kind of get to us

00:39:09

and uh and ourselves when we can. And

00:39:12

often you you never get to them. I

00:39:15

>> I think that's the same for a lot of

00:39:17

people. Uh, so I'm not saying that we're

00:39:20

unusual in in any way, but it's

00:39:21

something we talk about because, you

00:39:23

know, when the kids leave home,

00:39:27

uh, we don't want to look at each other

00:39:28

and go, "Who the hell are you?"

00:39:30

>> That happens a lot.

00:39:31

>> Yeah. And so that's something you got to

00:39:33

actively work at, right? You want to

00:39:34

make sure that you continue to fall in

00:39:38

love with each other is you change

00:39:40

inevitably from when you when you first

00:39:42

when you first met.

00:39:44

>> So, um, we do. And uh and so I think

00:39:47

that it's healthy to kind of talk about

00:39:49

that and and make and make that time for

00:39:51

the relationship.

00:39:52

>> What what are your uh big arguments

00:39:54

about? Is it kid related or

00:39:57

you you she's a lawyer. You wouldn't

00:39:58

want to argue with her, right? You're

00:40:00

>> Yeah. No. No. There's

00:40:02

>> you know you're on a hiding to nothing.

00:40:03

>> Yeah. I'm just Yes. Yes, dear.

00:40:07

And uh Yeah. So like seriously, we don't

00:40:11

we don't have massive big arguments. So

00:40:13

I think probably the the the biggest

00:40:16

challenges that that we have um is how

00:40:20

do you ensure

00:40:22

um

00:40:24

it's probably more about actually the

00:40:26

the challenges of uh of kind of just

00:40:29

life and chaos and and busyness and

00:40:31

communication more than anything else. I

00:40:33

can be a bit useless and not telling her

00:40:35

what's happening when it's uh when it's

00:40:37

busy. And that's probably the biggest

00:40:38

thing.

00:40:39

>> Bro, I'm I'm exactly the same. uh you

00:40:42

know um you know when your kids in

00:40:44

particular boys get home from school and

00:40:45

it's hard to get more than a grunt or a

00:40:47

one or two word answer out of them. I'm

00:40:48

the same in relationships like if I'm

00:40:50

busy with other stuff it's the

00:40:51

communication the first thing that

00:40:52

lapses for me and I know it's a I know

00:40:54

it's a work on

00:40:55

>> it's hard though e

00:40:56

>> it is. Yeah. And also I'm sure I've told

00:40:58

her something and I and I haven't.

00:41:00

>> So that's the that's the biggest issue

00:41:02

and it was in my head. I just didn't uh

00:41:04

I just didn't say it.

00:41:06

>> You need to push harder. Gaslight her. I

00:41:08

definitely told you this. I definitely

00:41:09

told you. No, she's got a uh Yeah, she's

00:41:12

got a memory.

00:41:12

>> Yeah. Oh, that's great. So So um Yes. So

00:41:15

your son's 17 now?

00:41:16

>> Yeah. So uh Sam's 17, uh Oakland

00:41:19

grammar. Um great kid. Uh Will's 13

00:41:23

again. Fantastic kid. He's in um in

00:41:27

third form Oakland grammar. And then uh

00:41:30

our daughter in year six going into year

00:41:31

seven.

00:41:32

>> Bum bum bum. You know, so they're

00:41:34

>> they're growing up growing up fast. But

00:41:36

um yeah uh I really I'm really really

00:41:39

proud of them. Good manners, good

00:41:41

values. Uh and all we say to them is be

00:41:44

the best you can be. All I care about is

00:41:47

the effort effort mark. The outcome will

00:41:50

be what it will be and they'll find what

00:41:52

they love at some point in time. And who

00:41:54

knew what they wanted to be or very few

00:41:56

people at 17 or 13 or or 11. I just want

00:41:59

them to try lots of things and be good

00:42:01

people and open doors and have good

00:42:03

manners and

00:42:04

>> and uh and give it their best and and uh

00:42:07

and if they do that, I'm sure it'll work

00:42:08

out fine.

00:42:09

>> Yeah, that's bloody great.

00:42:10

>> Oh, well done. That's cool. You've got a

00:42:13

few more years before you're an empty

00:42:14

neester.

00:42:15

>> Yeah, we we have. Yeah.

00:42:16

>> I thought it'd be exciting having one of

00:42:18

your kids leave home, especially if

00:42:19

there's a couple of backups.

00:42:20

>> No, I'm going to be You're going to be

00:42:22

an emotional mess.

00:42:23

>> I'm going to be a mess. It will be

00:42:25

>> horrific. Really? Why? Oh, I just love

00:42:28

them so much. And I just

00:42:30

>> seriously uh I just I and I when Sam uh

00:42:35

turned 17,

00:42:38

>> uh I told him a story uh of when he was

00:42:40

born, the day he was born, I don't know,

00:42:43

but I got a cab ride back from the um

00:42:45

hospital and uh the cab driver could see

00:42:48

that I was really chuffed. And uh he

00:42:51

said, "What are you smiling about?" And

00:42:52

I said, "I've had my first son, first

00:42:54

child." And he's a boy. and he said,

00:42:55

"Oh, funnily enough, it's my son's

00:42:57

birthday this weekend and he's 21." And

00:42:59

he said, "Can I just tell you it gets

00:43:01

better and better and better?" And I

00:43:03

said to Sam, "It does." Like, I didn't

00:43:05

want you to grow up when you were three

00:43:06

and when you were seven and when you

00:43:08

were 10 and when I when you were 13. I

00:43:10

was like, "Nothing's going to be better

00:43:11

than this." But it does. And so just so

00:43:16

proud of having my relationship with him

00:43:18

and the kids. It's special.

00:43:20

>> Yeah. You haven't obviously gone through

00:43:21

the mount difficulty phase yet of the

00:43:23

there's got that's got to come.

00:43:25

>> No. Yeah. Like not at all. Like you know

00:43:27

of course they always misstep and they

00:43:29

do naughty things and they've

00:43:31

>> pushing boundaries.

00:43:32

>> Pushing boundaries or I've found them

00:43:34

they've you know snuck out the bedroom

00:43:35

window to see their friends and

00:43:37

>> vape in the school bag.

00:43:38

>> All that. None of them have vape

00:43:40

>> really. Well done.

00:43:41

>> Yeah. I used to work for Smokefree way

00:43:43

back uh when I was at when I was at

00:43:45

school kind of advocating. uh my grandma

00:43:48

um she passed away of um emphymia

00:43:51

emphyma whatever it is

00:43:53

>> and um so I've uh yeah but so uh I've

00:43:56

kind of installed that installed that

00:43:58

into them

00:43:58

>> uh their probably biggest issue is um

00:44:00

addiction to devices which

00:44:02

>> you know as being in the industry I'm in

00:44:05

um it's a it's a challenge I'm trying to

00:44:07

navigate through at home as as well as

00:44:08

for the industry. Oh, it's it it's

00:44:11

tough. Like, um I I've stopped looking

00:44:13

at my screen time, my weekly screen

00:44:15

time, because it's alarming.

00:44:16

>> It is.

00:44:17

>> And you can justify so much of it as um

00:44:18

working. Like I'm working. It's a it's a

00:44:20

work tool. But no, a lot of it is a lot

00:44:22

of it is mindless scrolling.

00:44:24

>> No. Yeah. And I find that myself, you

00:44:25

know, I I'm going, okay, I've just uh

00:44:28

you know, I just wind down and look at a

00:44:30

couple of things on Instagram and it's

00:44:32

9:45 and then all of a sudden it's

00:44:34

11:00. I just lost an hour looking at

00:44:38

funny pet videos and like what the hell

00:44:43

where did that where did that go? And

00:44:44

you can see you know hopefully my brain

00:44:46

is a bit more developed than a

00:44:48

13-year-old or a 17y old but yeah you

00:44:50

can see uh that you know

00:44:53

>> they are developed to keep you

00:44:55

>> oh they're addictive. Yeah it's

00:44:58

>> I heard a podcast that's saying it's um

00:44:59

sort of yeah the screen and the way it

00:45:01

looks and feels and sounds is based on

00:45:03

like slot machines.

00:45:04

>> Yes. Yes. Um, yeah. Yeah. But and the

00:45:06

the meta algorithms are so good. Like I

00:45:08

get to see so many videos of dogs that

00:45:10

look like mine.

00:45:12

>> An hour is nothing, mate.

00:45:14

>> I know. It It feels like it it's always

00:45:16

listening to you as well, right? Like,

00:45:17

and I just like all of a sudden, you

00:45:20

know, um uh I turned 50 and I'm getting

00:45:24

uh you know, gut health bloating

00:45:28

50-year-old ads on social media and I'm

00:45:31

like, are you trying to tell me

00:45:33

something here? you know, whatever it

00:45:35

is. So,

00:45:35

>> oh, magnesium supplements for me. Yeah.

00:45:37

Yeah. It's good though. It's helpful. It

00:45:39

is.

00:45:39

>> Um, hey, let's talk about your career,

00:45:40

the career stuff. So, um, so you left

00:45:44

school, you went to university for 3

00:45:45

months.

00:45:46

>> So,

00:45:47

>> what happened there?

00:45:48

>> So, applied for teacher training college

00:45:50

and, uh, got rejected and then, um, came

00:45:54

back from a south and rugby trip, uh,

00:45:57

and then went to, um, Trust Bank

00:46:00

Southland and but I

00:46:04

always thought that I would want to go

00:46:06

to university because I had a a view in

00:46:09

my head that um if you wanted to get a

00:46:12

big job um whatever the industry was and

00:46:15

I wasn't too sure that you needed to

00:46:17

have a a degree and so was basically

00:46:20

saving money up to uh not take up I took

00:46:24

take on too much debt when I go to go to

00:46:26

university and I my best mate is um uh

00:46:31

was actually a year younger

00:46:33

uh than me and and then my other best

00:46:35

mate was two years uh two years younger

00:46:38

than me and so we were uh thinking about

00:46:41

all going together and so uh we all

00:46:44

worked um for a period of time in in

00:46:47

Chicago before we went to kind of

00:46:48

university in the same in the same year.

00:46:51

>> Uh I was um

00:46:56

the year before I went to university I

00:46:58

took a job that was paying more than the

00:47:00

bank in radio sales. So I uh started

00:47:03

being a radio sales sales guy and um

00:47:07

then left to go to university and then

00:47:10

three months after uh I was at

00:47:12

university the radio station manager

00:47:15

turned up at my flat and said hey um

00:47:18

we've missed you uh we'll double your

00:47:21

salary and if you come back so um I

00:47:25

called I was doing a double major in

00:47:27

marketing and information science back

00:47:29

then like technology and I remember I

00:47:32

called the careers advisor um at the

00:47:34

Atago University and I said, "Hey, look,

00:47:36

I've just got this job offer, but I'm

00:47:39

really enjoying this information science

00:47:41

thing." And I remember she said to me,

00:47:43

"There's no money in tech. Take the

00:47:44

job." So, uh I took the job and uh the

00:47:48

rest is history. And that kind of that

00:47:50

that created uh I suppose my set me on

00:47:54

my career of kind of sales and

00:47:56

marketing. So people come through the

00:47:59

ranks you know in finance or operations

00:48:02

um uh my my my background is in has been

00:48:06

in sales and marketing. So I just

00:48:08

progressively moved from Invagle

00:48:11

uh to Wellington uh and then to uh

00:48:14

Oakland after I met my uh after I met Ra

00:48:18

>> and uh have been kind of a sales and

00:48:20

marketing background ever since.

00:48:21

>> Yeah. Yeah. And I suppose once you get

00:48:22

that um that opportunity and you start

00:48:24

getting a bit of career momentum like

00:48:25

the degree thing becomes less and less

00:48:27

important. But like if you look at jobs

00:48:29

now on say Casil or whatever like most

00:48:31

of them say you know the you know entry

00:48:34

level requirement is a is a degree and

00:48:36

whatever it happens to be. So how did

00:48:38

you get like the um marketing manager

00:48:40

job at McDonald's without a degree?

00:48:42

>> Uh I just applied for it.

00:48:43

>> Yeah. They didn't they didn't ask they

00:48:44

just assumed.

00:48:45

>> No. So it actually wasn't a requirement

00:48:47

to be honest and um my boss now uh well

00:48:51

my boss back then and Suckloff's another

00:48:53

good mate good mate of mine and kind of

00:48:56

uh I I my view is once you get the

00:48:59

interview once you get the foot in the

00:49:00

door

00:49:02

>> um

00:49:04

uh the qualifications don't necessarily

00:49:06

really really matter um

00:49:08

>> in my view unless you're a doctor you

00:49:10

know you got something who's a who's a

00:49:12

who's a specialist.

00:49:12

>> This guy's got a good attitude. Yeah.

00:49:14

Yeah.

00:49:14

>> You can do my brain operation,

00:49:16

>> but uh when you're coming through the

00:49:17

ranks of sales and marketing and he just

00:49:19

took a he could took a chance on me at

00:49:21

crack

00:49:21

>> and that was my kind of first big

00:49:23

marketing role was um was at McDonald's

00:49:26

up until then. um uh I was kind of a

00:49:29

sales and marketer and um and so yeah,

00:49:32

he uh he took my he took his first big

00:49:34

first big punt and then

00:49:39

it started it wasn't really McDonald's

00:49:41

role but the Nokia role, the TV and Zed

00:49:45

role, the media media works role, the

00:49:48

telecom role,

00:49:51

uh even um possibly the uh the Vodafone

00:49:56

role.

00:49:58

having a degree never came up. I think

00:50:01

people probably just assumed

00:50:04

>> or it gets to the point where you've got

00:50:05

so much experience it just doesn't

00:50:06

matter.

00:50:07

>> Doesn't matter. But the I did have a

00:50:09

chip on my shoulder about it. Uh and

00:50:12

when I was at TBNZ, my boss Rick Ellis,

00:50:16

>> I talked to him about it openly and um

00:50:20

he said, "Shit, I didn't know that you

00:50:23

didn't have a degree." And he said, "I

00:50:24

never would have thought um you know,

00:50:27

you're smart, you're articulate, you can

00:50:29

you know, you're structured in the way

00:50:31

that you think and and uh and write,

00:50:34

>> but that's was created basically on four

00:50:37

years of work experience while others

00:50:38

had four years of structured structured

00:50:40

learning." And so, as we just said

00:50:42

before, like Rachel and I are the

00:50:44

complete opposite ends of the education

00:50:46

spectrum, masters from Harvard, no

00:50:50

university degree. So, uh, TV and Zed

00:50:53

and Rick funded me to do a business

00:50:55

course at at Harvard. I think it was in

00:50:58

2008.

00:51:00

And, um, I went across there and there

00:51:03

were people from all around the world.

00:51:06

And within 24 hours, I was like, I'm as

00:51:10

good as them. Like, I can have

00:51:13

conversations about the case studies. I

00:51:15

can get the uh the concepts of the

00:51:18

models. I can uh debate uh with them. I

00:51:22

can ideate.

00:51:23

And that was a it was a really big um

00:51:27

psychological moment for me in my career

00:51:30

whether I realized

00:51:33

um that I didn't have that I wasn't

00:51:36

smart. You know, I didn't have an issue

00:51:38

with not being smart enough to

00:51:41

>> be able to um you know, be the CEO of a

00:51:44

of of an organ of an organization. And

00:51:46

so,

00:51:48

uh, it was probably an impediment or a

00:51:50

hurdle that I was putting on myself

00:51:52

versus others were putting on me at at

00:51:54

that at that point in time. And, um, it

00:51:57

never it never really never really came

00:51:58

up from that from that point because, as

00:52:00

you said, your experience, your track

00:52:02

record, New Zealand's a village. People

00:52:05

know what you're doing, good or bad,

00:52:08

every day. Um, and if your track record

00:52:10

is is good and and you're doing what you

00:52:12

said you'd do and you're showing up

00:52:14

well, then then opportunities open up

00:52:16

for you.

00:52:16

>> Yeah, 100%. Um, yeah. Do you think are

00:52:19

you familiar with imposter syndrome?

00:52:21

>> Yes.

00:52:21

>> Yeah. Do you feel like um you were sort

00:52:24

of experiencing that when you went to

00:52:25

see Rick Ellis?

00:52:26

>> Oh, absolutely.

00:52:27

>> A degree of that.

00:52:28

>> And I think it's still there's still a

00:52:30

degree of that in me now. I'm still

00:52:32

waiting for Yeah. I still seriously I I

00:52:36

would say

00:52:38

uh at least every month if not every

00:52:40

week I go, "How the hell did someone

00:52:43

like me get here?" Like, it's just

00:52:46

bizarre. I'm waiting for someone to tap

00:52:48

me on the shoulder and go, "How the hell

00:52:49

did you get here?" And I'll go, "I know.

00:52:51

I know. Yeah. Yeah. Games up. Uh

00:52:54

>> you got me.

00:52:55

>> You got me." Uh I I just genuinely

00:52:58

uh cannot believe how lucky I am that uh

00:53:04

and that's every job like you know I

00:53:05

said I giving me the crack at McDonald's

00:53:07

Mari giving me the crack at uh Trust

00:53:10

Bank Southland

00:53:12

>> um the radio station manager picking me

00:53:15

back out of uh out of university. Um

00:53:18

Rick Ellis uh just you know grabbing me

00:53:21

out of London and then sending me to

00:53:23

Harvard.

00:53:25

um Simon Mutter uh giving me the

00:53:28

opportunity to do the telecom to Spark,

00:53:30

run twothirds of their of their of their

00:53:32

business. Like it's just it's absolutely

00:53:35

incredible uh that these people have.

00:53:38

>> Yeah.

00:53:39

>> Um given me the given me the

00:53:41

opportunities that uh that they have and

00:53:44

you don't want to let them down. Uh

00:53:46

yeah. And I've you know that I think

00:53:48

I've got the imposter syndrome as a dad,

00:53:51

you know, never going to be good enough.

00:53:52

I've got the imposter syndrome is um um

00:53:55

as part of the team as well that you're

00:53:57

never going to be good enough and that

00:53:59

drives me.

00:54:01

>> I think it's quite um it shouldn't be

00:54:02

but I think it's quite brave or

00:54:03

courageous of you to to admit that

00:54:05

because um

00:54:06

>> imposter syndrome or

00:54:08

>> Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean I feel like

00:54:10

there's a degree of um you know, you're

00:54:12

supposed to have people talk about fake

00:54:14

it till you make it. um you know um but

00:54:18

I think I think most of us I've had

00:54:19

heaps of All Blacks on the podcast and

00:54:21

they all admit the same thing like the

00:54:22

first day they turned up you know so

00:54:24

they'll have a killer super season or

00:54:25

whatever and then turn up to the all

00:54:26

black training they'll be like [ __ ] I

00:54:27

don't belong here um I think it's it's

00:54:29

really refreshing to admit that

00:54:31

>> especially six years under the desk

00:54:33

>> it's it's true you know uh and and

00:54:36

hopefully you can use it as a driver

00:54:38

>> um versus

00:54:41

uh yeah versus feeling uncertain.

00:54:45

So, uh,

00:54:47

yeah, but it's it's there. It's there

00:54:49

every day. I just I just go, "How the

00:54:51

hell did this happen?" Uh, and how do I,

00:54:55

uh, you know, work hard enough to make

00:54:57

sure that the music doesn't stop?

00:54:59

>> Is that exhausting?

00:55:01

>> Uh, yeah. Like the CEO roles are

00:55:04

actually any industry. Like it's they're

00:55:07

tiring. They're 20 24/7. and and I've

00:55:10

purposefully decided that my role as a

00:55:13

CEO is a 24/7 role because I want to be

00:55:16

as accessible to as many people as

00:55:18

possible on every social media platform,

00:55:21

too. You know, I every conversation I

00:55:24

have with anyone, I always give them out

00:55:26

my personal email address and I tell

00:55:28

them that I'm your personal account

00:55:30

manager and I'm your personal account

00:55:32

manager, too, Dom. And um uh because

00:55:36

uh I want them to know that I take the

00:55:39

role that we play in their lives really

00:55:41

really seriously. One,

00:55:42

>> two, it's the best way for me to know

00:55:44

what's happening in the business, good

00:55:45

and bad.

00:55:47

>> Um and uh and three, I think it's my

00:55:50

job. Like everyone in the organization

00:55:52

should be the the best sales and service

00:55:53

person that they that they can be. But

00:55:55

that means, you know, Friday nights,

00:55:58

Saturdays, Sundays, I'll be checking my

00:56:01

phone because if I get an email, it

00:56:03

means the shit's at the fan. A customer

00:56:05

has a massive issue in their business or

00:56:07

in their life for them at that point in

00:56:09

time and um they've tried as much as

00:56:12

they possibly can and uh and they

00:56:14

haven't got what they needed to and so I

00:56:15

I'm in a position to be able to help.

00:56:17

Yeah, you're you're very active on

00:56:18

LinkedIn and I've seen um like a couple

00:56:21

of comments where there's been you've

00:56:23

put up a post about something completely

00:56:24

unrelated and someone will write a

00:56:26

comment bitching about some data issue

00:56:28

or whatever it happens to be and then

00:56:29

you'll respond with your email address.

00:56:31

So, how does your email work? Does it

00:56:33

get directed to a PA and then they

00:56:35

>> go straightly to me?

00:56:37

>> So, I read every single apart from if

00:56:39

I'm on holiday um I'll read every single

00:56:42

email that uh that comes through. I'll

00:56:45

respond to every single email

00:56:47

personally, but then uh I have a team of

00:56:51

about four or five people that don't

00:56:52

just support me. They triage the most

00:56:55

gnarly uh issues that come through the

00:56:57

business. Uh some of which come to me

00:57:00

and then they will account manage them

00:57:01

in to make sure that they get they get

00:57:03

fixed because New Zealanders are good

00:57:05

good people. Um, and if when it gets to

00:57:08

me, we've normally, you know, pissed

00:57:10

them off to a point where it's the last

00:57:12

straw

00:57:12

>> and they're going, "You need to know

00:57:14

what's happening in your organization."

00:57:16

So, uh, I'll send, uh, three emails out

00:57:20

to our customer base a year. I have done

00:57:22

that since I started. Uh, I used to get

00:57:26

about a thousand emails back. I'd read

00:57:29

all of them um within 24 hours, respond

00:57:32

within 48 hours and then this team would

00:57:36

help fix them and um and address them.

00:57:39

That that email volume's at least halves

00:57:42

now. So um I always put my personal

00:57:44

email address at the bottom. Always say

00:57:47

if you got anything that I can help

00:57:48

with, let me know. Uh so I'll probably

00:57:51

get 500 emails. I would say half of them

00:57:53

are now compliments. they would go, "You

00:57:55

know what? You're doing a much better

00:57:57

job than you were. Well done." Uh, and

00:58:00

then the other half are, "Actually,

00:58:01

you're still doing a pretty shitty job.

00:58:02

I need you to fix need you to fix this."

00:58:05

Um, but again, you know, it's a it's a

00:58:08

it's a calculated investment because I

00:58:10

know I've talked to thousands of our

00:58:13

customers over a year. And so I know

00:58:17

pretty well what is going on in our

00:58:19

business and where we're up to scratch

00:58:21

and where and where we're not and what

00:58:23

we need to focus on and uh and do. So

00:58:26

it's a it's a it's an investment that um

00:58:29

that is a really smart one because it's

00:58:31

the only way that you know what's really

00:58:32

happening in your business is by talking

00:58:34

to as many customers as you as you can.

00:58:36

>> Yeah. And that's a very um conscious and

00:58:38

deliberate decision I guess to be a

00:58:40

visible CEO.

00:58:41

>> Yeah.

00:58:42

>> Um where did that stem from? Did you get

00:58:44

the idea from anyone else or the

00:58:45

inspiration or is this just you as a

00:58:46

person?

00:58:47

>> No, it's just me like you know just um I

00:58:49

like people get my energy from them. Uh

00:58:53

I like yeah I you know I like uh hearing

00:58:57

from our customers. It it helps us make

00:58:59

decisions, helps me drive change through

00:59:01

the organization.

00:59:03

Uh I feel like if I uh if I engage and I

00:59:08

can acknowledge and say sorry if a

00:59:11

customer and there are very few of them

00:59:13

now that's a dick. I can call them out

00:59:15

too and go you know what disagree with

00:59:17

that. I think you're being unfair when

00:59:20

you have a crack at a team member or

00:59:22

where you're criticizing us in this in

00:59:23

this way. I can only to honest I can

00:59:26

only think of a handful of times where

00:59:27

I've had to do that and stick up stick

00:59:29

up for my team. But I think um you know

00:59:32

by being visible and uh and apologizing

00:59:34

and getting some things sorted also

00:59:37

gives you permission to draw a line in

00:59:38

the sand and go well no hold a minute

00:59:41

don't agree with that don't agree with

00:59:42

your pos your posture or your position

00:59:44

or your criticism of us and and sorry

00:59:46

but uh you know we won't be moving

00:59:48

forward on that one so that's fine too.

00:59:50

Yeah. Well, a lot a lot of the time

00:59:51

people just want to be heard, don't

00:59:52

they?

00:59:53

>> They do.

00:59:54

>> Yeah.

00:59:54

>> Yeah. But um Oh, no. Good. Good for

00:59:57

doing that. Oh, there was a thing on

00:59:58

your LinkedIn a couple of weeks ago as

00:59:59

well about you um u making a very public

01:00:01

stand. Um what happened? You banned

01:00:04

banned a couple of customers from one of

01:00:05

your stores. What happened there?

01:00:06

>> Yeah. So, this has been a problem that's

01:00:08

been growing in retail for uh all

01:00:12

industries for quite some time. So, you

01:00:14

know, everyone will be famili familiar

01:00:15

with the smash and grabs at Michael Hill

01:00:18

jewelers, you know, the ram raids and

01:00:20

that kind of stuff. And

01:00:23

uh, man, that's a terrifying, horrific

01:00:27

experience.

01:00:29

And can I, as I said on LinkedIn a few a

01:00:32

few weeks ago, these are

01:00:35

grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles,

01:00:38

aunties, moms, dads, sons, daughters,

01:00:41

cousins, friends.

01:00:44

New Zealanders just like you or me

01:00:47

>> trying to do a job to help people that

01:00:49

do not need to put up with that type of

01:00:52

crap. All right. Um, now we're lucky

01:00:55

that the RAM raids that have impacted

01:00:57

our retail stores have been at night.

01:01:00

Um, people come in. What they don't know

01:01:02

is that all of our devices in a safe

01:01:04

they can't get to. And they think that

01:01:05

the devices that are in our retail

01:01:07

stores will work. They're not. They're

01:01:09

dummy devices, right? You can use them,

01:01:11

but you disconnect them. They're dummy

01:01:13

devices. You can't put a SIM card into

01:01:14

them. You can't use them. Um, so when

01:01:17

they do RAM raid, they don't there's

01:01:19

nothing of value that they they take.

01:01:21

But in this instance, um, you know,

01:01:24

society is getting more problematic.

01:01:26

We've got people coming into our retail

01:01:28

stores trying to intimidate, being

01:01:30

aggressive, swearing. Now, I know

01:01:32

they're stressed. It's tough economic

01:01:35

times. We've come through co, come

01:01:36

through a recession,

01:01:38

all that kind of stuff, but it's just

01:01:40

um, but everyone's dealing with issues

01:01:44

in their life, and you can't take it out

01:01:46

on our on our people. And so, um, this

01:01:49

was an instance where someone was

01:01:51

changing, uh, over a phone and they had

01:01:55

forgotten their Apple ID. It's not our

01:01:57

job to change over their phone for them,

01:01:59

but our our, um, uh, our salesperson was

01:02:04

doing them a favor by trying to help

01:02:06

them migrate all their photos and data,

01:02:08

but you need your Apple ID

01:02:10

>> to be able to make it happen. And they'd

01:02:11

forgotten it

01:02:13

>> and it wasn't working. And so they lost

01:02:15

it

01:02:16

>> and was punching them and beating them

01:02:18

up. And then someone else came in and

01:02:20

they took a swing at them and then they

01:02:21

were abusing people and etc. And um and

01:02:26

one of them had to go to hospital and

01:02:28

just I was just pissed off. I was like

01:02:29

this is not good enough. It's

01:02:30

unacceptable.

01:02:32

And so we've just we've kicked them off

01:02:34

the network and they'll never be allowed

01:02:36

back. And um that's a big move right

01:02:40

that we'd take in very rare instances.

01:02:43

But I'm sorry if uh if that's what

01:02:45

you're going to do, then we don't want

01:02:47

you part of our um part of the team.

01:02:50

>> So uh yeah, so they will never be a one

01:02:54

New Zealand customer uh ever ever again

01:02:57

and um they can find another telco to uh

01:02:59

to connect with.

01:03:01

>> Yeah. To me that doesn't that doesn't

01:03:02

feel like a huge move. Like that's

01:03:04

outrageous behavior. Like it's

01:03:06

incredibly poor form. Like how how

01:03:08

traumatic for the staff members

01:03:09

involved.

01:03:10

>> Oh, massively. And and actually I think

01:03:12

you know when we're supporting them and

01:03:14

I I talked to them on the day and then

01:03:16

um the week after

01:03:18

>> uh but you just don't know how you're

01:03:19

going to feel and uh and and then they

01:03:22

came back into store and of course

01:03:23

they're feeling a bit of apprehensive

01:03:24

because no one expects someone to take a

01:03:27

swing at you or try to beat the [ __ ] out

01:03:29

of you when you're trying to help them.

01:03:30

>> No.

01:03:31

>> And that happened and and uh it was un

01:03:33

like it was they didn't couldn't predict

01:03:35

it. this person was clearly like up

01:03:37

until that point was getting agitated

01:03:40

and frustrated but frustrated about the

01:03:41

device not at them and then lost it. Uh

01:03:44

and so who's next? they'll be they'll be

01:03:46

thinking so you know um it is it is rare

01:03:51

but uh yeah I just wanted to draw a line

01:03:54

on the sand and say it's unacceptable

01:03:55

and and this type of behavior increases

01:03:57

over Christmas which is why I did it I I

01:03:59

you know sent a timely reminder now

01:04:01

>> as people get stressed uh over that kind

01:04:04

of busy Christmas and New Year period

01:04:06

just remember that everyone's just

01:04:07

trying to do a job they're trying to

01:04:09

navigate through life they're trying to

01:04:10

help you and support you and they don't

01:04:12

deserve um you know you taking your

01:04:15

anger out on Yeah, good on you.

01:04:16

>> Yeah.

01:04:17

>> Um and why the rebrand? The rebrand from

01:04:20

um Vodafone to one NZ.

01:04:22

>> Yeah, a bunch of reasons. Um first one

01:04:24

is uh it's a brand that we didn't own

01:04:27

Vodafone and we were paying tens of

01:04:29

millions of dollars overseas for and

01:04:32

that money is better re being reinvested

01:04:34

back into into New Zealand. Um the

01:04:37

majority of that money is being

01:04:38

reinvested into SpaceX into our

01:04:41

partnership with them and that'll be a

01:04:42

gamecher you know um getting your uh

01:04:46

backup connectivity from space uh

01:04:48

instead of on the ground in in New

01:04:50

Zealand. So that's one uh two uh look

01:04:55

the the Vodafone brand in New Zealand

01:04:58

started off with a hiss and a roar. It

01:05:00

was the leader in mobility. And then

01:05:02

when I started six years ago, man, I

01:05:05

used to get a lot of crap at barbecues.

01:05:07

People would go, "Your service isn't

01:05:09

great. I've had a really shitty

01:05:10

experience. I couldn't recommend you."

01:05:12

And New Zealanders have got long

01:05:13

memories. And so over the next kind of

01:05:16

three or four years, so up until two

01:05:18

years ago, we'd invested so much in our

01:05:20

network and our and you know, the best

01:05:22

network in the country, our service,

01:05:25

we'd back ourselves to have the best

01:05:26

service results in the country. People

01:05:28

have long memories. Um, but I remembered

01:05:31

from the Spark Telecom to Spark change,

01:05:34

New Zealanders will give you another

01:05:35

chance, especially if you do a bit of a

01:05:38

rebrand. They'll go, oh, maybe something

01:05:40

is different there. And so the rebrand

01:05:42

was also a reconsideration moment. So

01:05:44

people to go, give us another give us

01:05:47

another try. And so, uh, we did it a

01:05:50

rebrand to have a bit of a refresh

01:05:51

there. And then the third thing is we

01:05:54

felt that in terms of a position

01:05:57

uh we felt that there was a an

01:05:59

opportunity for a New Zealand telco to

01:06:02

stand more for this country and more for

01:06:04

New Zealand than any other. So um two

01:06:08

degrees is trying to stand for price.

01:06:11

Spark I think was standing for kind of

01:06:13

partnerships like Spotify and we wanted

01:06:15

to stand for the best of New Zealand and

01:06:17

we felt that there was a kind of a brand

01:06:19

positioning. So saving money that can be

01:06:21

re reinvested, a reconsideration moment,

01:06:25

so convince people to give us a second

01:06:27

go. Um and then that and then that

01:06:29

positioning. So those were the three

01:06:31

three big reasons and thankfully uh the

01:06:35

team did a much better job of my telecom

01:06:38

to Spark uh project and and and all

01:06:41

three of them have paid off. Not that

01:06:43

the telecom to Spark one didn't.

01:06:44

>> Yeah, I was going to say that was that

01:06:45

was fine, wasn't it?

01:06:46

>> Yeah, it was good. just it takes a while

01:06:47

for these names to wash out, but

01:06:49

eventually you just forget about it.

01:06:50

>> And look, ultimately, you're right, it's

01:06:52

not the name, it's the actions.

01:06:54

>> So, as long as you don't completely

01:06:56

screw up the name choice,

01:06:58

>> it's really the actions that you take.

01:07:00

>> What other names were on the short list?

01:07:02

>> Well, my favorite uh the one that I was

01:07:05

advocating for, they did they dismissed.

01:07:07

I I really liked Spirit, but uh it got

01:07:11

dismissed because Spirit of New Zealand

01:07:13

uh the boat, you know, and a good mate

01:07:15

of mine, Bruce, runs that. And I would

01:07:17

have had a conversation and go, "Hey,

01:07:18

thought about doing a partnership with a

01:07:20

with a telco."

01:07:21

>> Um

01:07:23

yeah, and so there were five names. Um I

01:07:25

can't remember the others and uh and

01:07:28

that was the one that the team went

01:07:29

with.

01:07:29

>> And then it just it just goes,

01:07:32

>> as I said, it's really not the name.

01:07:33

It's is your network good, is your

01:07:36

service good, is your pricing good, have

01:07:38

you got good people, have you got good

01:07:40

partnerships? Uh, and if you nail those

01:07:42

things, that's more important than the

01:07:44

name.

01:07:44

>> Yeah. And and names names of um brands

01:07:46

always sound weird in the beginning. Um,

01:07:48

yeah, I remember I was at Media Works

01:07:50

when um, uh, Mark Welen, who was the

01:07:52

CEO, turned the news into Newshub. Yeah.

01:07:54

>> And everyone was like, Newshub, what it

01:07:56

looks like Pornhub, what is it? But

01:07:57

after a while, it just becomes a a

01:07:59

thing. Yeah.

01:07:59

>> You guys did, I think, a good job of

01:08:01

this. um or your team didn't and they

01:08:03

got you involved with it. Um a Tik Tok

01:08:05

uh where you're reading out messages um

01:08:07

just basically people [ __ ] you mean

01:08:09

tweets [ __ ] on the name cuz Kiwis

01:08:12

love that self-deprecating sort of

01:08:13

humor, right?

01:08:14

>> Yeah, that was an embarrassing like my

01:08:16

kids were like, "Oh my dad, you're so

01:08:18

cringe, you know." Um cuz I think uh

01:08:23

they one of them was something about 42

01:08:27

and they were like and they were pissed

01:08:29

themselves cuz I didn't realize that uh

01:08:31

420 was the name for a drug or whatever

01:08:32

it is. And so yeah, so there was lots of

01:08:35

things that not only uh were funny

01:08:38

because people were taking the piss

01:08:40

about the name, but it also funny

01:08:41

because uh it showed my naivity in a

01:08:43

whole bunch of areas.

01:08:44

>> And well, you mentioned um the um SpaceX

01:08:47

thing before. Is that that that's the

01:08:49

same as the um the Starlink thing?

01:08:50

>> Yeah. So, how did that come about?

01:08:53

>> By the way, as as a trail runner, this

01:08:54

is so exciting.

01:08:55

>> Yeah. No, it is. So, uh we've been

01:08:58

working with um with Starlink broadband

01:09:01

for quite some time. So, and it really

01:09:04

came into its own off the back of

01:09:06

Cyclone Gabriel because we could uh when

01:09:10

power was out, um when fiber was out, we

01:09:15

could deploy the Starlink broadband

01:09:19

satellite dishes. We did it for the New

01:09:21

Zealand Defense Force. We did it for the

01:09:23

airports where we could get Wi-Fi

01:09:25

connectivity connected to a generator

01:09:28

because when you lose connectivity,

01:09:31

it's your lifeline. You can't tell

01:09:33

people that you need help. You can't

01:09:34

tell people that you're safe. You can't

01:09:36

tell them where you are and you massive

01:09:40

anxiety for people that love you and

01:09:43

also the people that you love. M

01:09:45

>> and so uh I talked to the team about um

01:09:50

SpaceX's

01:09:51

Starlink to mobile service and so uh how

01:09:56

was that progressing and we'd had a

01:09:58

conversation with them but the price

01:10:00

that they'd quoted us was

01:10:04

massive way like so expensive there was

01:10:07

no way that we could afford it and so I

01:10:10

decided that I'd like to have a crack at

01:10:12

convincing them that they should give us

01:10:14

a better deal. And so we basically did a

01:10:17

pitch to them and said, "Look,

01:10:20

60 million sheep, five million people.

01:10:23

Uh it's the same population as Alabama

01:10:25

and the US. Um you know, we're a rugged

01:10:29

country of explorers. We're the perfect

01:10:31

test case for this technology. We're

01:10:34

fast adopters of technology. We've got a

01:10:38

partnership with you on Starlink

01:10:39

broadband.

01:10:41

Uh we've just had a massive cyclone uh

01:10:45

that's devastated parts of the country.

01:10:47

We had floods in our major city. This is

01:10:50

going to be a lifecher. Um 40% of um

01:10:54

Alteora doesn't have coverage. Uh we

01:10:57

love fishing.

01:10:59

You know, uh we'd love to partner with

01:11:02

you. We're really bloody easy. Um and so

01:11:06

we pitched to them and uh and they said

01:11:08

yes. And so we signed the deal. Uh and

01:11:14

it happened so quickly actually that um

01:11:17

it was only about a month before we were

01:11:20

changing from Vodafone to one. And so

01:11:24

the team decided to make it as part of

01:11:26

the kind of launch day at the at the

01:11:29

kind of last last minute. And um uh

01:11:33

yeah, we announced it at the same time

01:11:34

as a good example of the money that we

01:11:36

were saving by rebranding being invested

01:11:39

back into into New Zealand. And you

01:11:41

know, you asked me before about proud

01:11:45

moments in my career. This is probably

01:11:48

going to be

01:11:50

up there if not the number one just

01:11:53

because if we can help save one life

01:11:56

through this technology, it'll be uh

01:11:58

it'll be worth it. And um it's amazing,

01:12:02

you know, uh we're doing all the all the

01:12:04

testing now, but uh you have a a a

01:12:08

smartphone, compatible smartphone in

01:12:09

your pocket. Uh and what compatible

01:12:12

means is why we're doing all the

01:12:14

testing. Um and you're you can see the

01:12:17

sky.

01:12:19

uh then you'll be able to uh get a

01:12:23

connection with the satellite traveling

01:12:26

500 km above you in space

01:12:30

uh traveling at 27,000 km an hour in

01:12:33

sequence in a constellation with others

01:12:37

first by text um and that's when we have

01:12:40

about 300 satellites up that uh you'll

01:12:43

be able to do text service. We need over

01:12:45

a thousand before you can do voice

01:12:47

service. And then no matter where you

01:12:50

are in New Zealand, you'll have coverage

01:12:53

because of satellites in the uh in space

01:12:57

as long as you can see the see the sky

01:13:00

and you have a compatible uh smart

01:13:02

smartphone.

01:13:03

>> It's insane. It's an absolute game

01:13:04

changer, right?

01:13:05

>> Oh, no. It's it is. It's um it's going

01:13:08

to be it's going to be amazing. And so

01:13:10

we're uh we're doing all the testing at

01:13:11

the moment across uh all parts of New

01:13:13

Zealand, load testing, customer

01:13:16

experience testing, device testing,

01:13:18

location testing. So it's working uh

01:13:22

when you see the sky, it's working in

01:13:24

buildings. When you're close to windows,

01:13:26

but when it, you know, just like any um

01:13:29

any coverage that you've got uh in an

01:13:32

elevator, you don't get coverage. Uh in

01:13:34

a mine, you don't get coverage.

01:13:36

Underwater, you don't get coverage. Um

01:13:39

and we just need to see where this um

01:13:41

the satellite coverage will uh will

01:13:43

reach. So yeah, it's cool.

01:13:44

>> So while the negotiations were going on,

01:13:46

were you were you worried that

01:13:48

conversations were going on with your

01:13:49

opposition or anything like that or

01:13:51

>> Yeah, like you never know. Um and that's

01:13:54

why you have to move fast.

01:13:57

uh and I think that's one of the

01:14:00

advantages that uh we we do have um is

01:14:05

that we'll move quickly that we're easy

01:14:07

to partner with

01:14:09

um that we had you know a lot of

01:14:11

ambition in terms of what this could do

01:14:14

for the country and how we could be a

01:14:16

test case for them for the world. Um and

01:14:19

then we signed up to a period of

01:14:22

exclusivity uh with them as well to make

01:14:24

sure that um you know we could we could

01:14:27

get it for a a period of time to kind of

01:14:29

create a strategic advantage for us.

01:14:31

>> The only thing I would say is uh when

01:14:34

the voice service goes live we are going

01:14:37

to make sure that everyone can access

01:14:39

this uh the 111 service regardless of

01:14:43

which telco you're with. So although I'd

01:14:46

love personally everyone to be with one

01:14:47

New Zealand, if you are with two

01:14:49

degrees, if you are with Spark and you

01:14:52

are somewhere remote, once our um voice

01:14:55

service launches on the Starlink SpaceX

01:14:58

service, if you need emergency services,

01:15:00

you'll be able to um you'll be able to

01:15:01

get help no matter what telco you're

01:15:03

with. It's a kind of a gift gift to New

01:15:05

Zealand from a health and safety

01:15:06

perspective. I don't want anyone getting

01:15:08

in trouble just because they haven't

01:15:09

chosen the right telco provider.

01:15:11

>> Yeah, it feels like that's probably the

01:15:12

responsible thing to do, right?

01:15:13

>> Oh yeah, it is the right thing. That's

01:15:14

why I'm going to be really proud that uh

01:15:17

we're leading this and there are other

01:15:18

satellite providers. Um SpaceX and Elon

01:15:22

Musk are way ahead of probably, you

01:15:24

know, they're years ahead of um of

01:15:26

anyone else.

01:15:28

>> And um I love the fact that, you know,

01:15:30

um when we make a big move like this,

01:15:32

everyone tries to play catch-up. I think

01:15:34

uh competition is good, right?

01:15:36

>> Oh, absolutely. It's necessary.

01:15:37

Otherwise, nothing nothing gets changed.

01:15:39

Nothing gets done. Did did you have any

01:15:41

direct dealings with um Elon Musk?

01:15:44

>> I've only I've had two uh email

01:15:46

conversations with him. Um one was on

01:15:48

the with on the deal. Um uh the other

01:15:52

one was when we did our uh our launch um

01:15:56

video and uh we sent it through to them

01:15:58

for approval and he said, "I love it. Uh

01:16:01

you've just taken stock footage of a

01:16:03

Russian rocket, not a SpaceX rocket, cuz

01:16:06

you

01:16:06

>> Oh my god.

01:16:08

>> Excuse me." So, can you please change

01:16:11

that out? So, uh that was a uh that was

01:16:13

a a slight a slight miss.

01:16:16

>> Uh

01:16:18

and then the um

01:16:19

>> it's like the McDonald's place all over

01:16:21

again.

01:16:21

>> Yeah. Yeah. And then the third third

01:16:22

thing which wasn't uh was indirect is

01:16:24

when we um when we started doing our

01:16:26

testing in New Zealand, he um he

01:16:29

messaged saying cool on uh on X. So

01:16:33

yeah, but um you know uh regardless of

01:16:36

whether you agree uh with his politics

01:16:39

or his views uh on life in general, he

01:16:43

is a technology genius and um

01:16:46

>> you know uh the intent of saving

01:16:48

humanity and prolonging humanity and

01:16:52

giving as many people access to this

01:16:53

amazing technology as possible.

01:16:55

>> You know what's not to love about that?

01:16:56

>> Oh yeah. I mean yeah I know he's

01:16:58

polarizing but the guy's an absolute

01:17:00

genius. like he's he he's got goals and

01:17:02

plans to change the world. Like he's

01:17:04

already looking at life on Mars and

01:17:05

things like that. And you just think of

01:17:06

the impact that Tesla's had on the um on

01:17:08

the e- car market. If it wasn't for

01:17:09

Tesla, we we wouldn't have um Pollster

01:17:12

or BYD. No,

01:17:13

>> we probably still just have like Priuses

01:17:15

driving around,

01:17:16

>> which is why competition is good, right?

01:17:17

And um you know and and again we're I'm

01:17:20

proud we were the uh we're the second

01:17:22

tal in the world and the and the a first

01:17:24

in the southern hemisphere to partner

01:17:27

with SpaceX and Starlink from little old

01:17:29

little old New Zealand. Uh that's New

01:17:31

Zealand at its best. So I love that

01:17:33

stuff right that kind of can do attitude

01:17:36

and um New Zealanders are good people.

01:17:38

Uh we're bold, we're brave, we're

01:17:40

cheeky, we'll ask, you know, what's the

01:17:42

worst that can happen? Just get a no.

01:17:44

And more than often than not, it pays

01:17:46

off. And it did. it did in this instance

01:17:47

as well. And uh and I think you know New

01:17:50

Zealand does it best. We do deals like

01:17:52

that more and more.

01:17:53

>> Yeah, that's a bon e. It's very brash.

01:17:56

>> Yeah, but it is seriously New Zealand at

01:17:58

its best. And that's a one of the things

01:17:59

I am a little bit um you know I get on

01:18:02

my soap box about is there's and you

01:18:05

know we were talking before this is an

01:18:08

amazing country

01:18:09

>> you know and uh and it's we have to

01:18:12

remind ourselves uh of that it's to to

01:18:14

live and work in New Zealand the

01:18:16

greatest country on the planet

01:18:18

>> and it's our job to kind of keep it that

01:18:19

way but you hear this negativity from

01:18:22

some parts of the country and some

01:18:24

groups I just dismiss it you replace it

01:18:27

with positive positivity. You need more

01:18:30

positivity, more good news stories, you

01:18:32

know, more innovation, more bold moves,

01:18:34

more big plays, uh more innovation, more

01:18:38

partnerships.

01:18:39

That's that's when we've always been at

01:18:41

our best when we when we do that, right?

01:18:44

So, um we need to see more of it. And I

01:18:46

I do feel like starting to get some

01:18:49

green shoots of uh of our mojo back,

01:18:52

which will be fantastic.

01:18:53

>> Yeah. Well, there's always going to be

01:18:54

the you know, the winters of society,

01:18:56

isn't there? It's always going to that's

01:18:57

always going to be there unfortunately.

01:18:59

But um J how are you doing for time? We

01:19:01

haven't even talked about the WS yet.

01:19:02

>> Oh I know. My favorite my favorite

01:19:04

topic. And uh speaking about social

01:19:06

media Dom. Yeah that's whenever there's

01:19:09

a Warriors game. My wife now confiscates

01:19:12

my mobile phone. Uh that's also a

01:19:15

perfect example of why you shouldn't be

01:19:17

on social media after you've had a glass

01:19:18

of wine. Uh it's also a perfect example

01:19:21

of uh I am me 100% of the time, right?

01:19:25

doesn't matter. And I've got to remind

01:19:27

myself uh at times that uh at all the at

01:19:31

all times I'm Jason Paris the dad, but

01:19:34

I'm also Jason I'm Jason Paris the worry

01:19:36

supporter. I'm also Jason Paris the CEO

01:19:38

of uh of One New Zealand. So, um, and I

01:19:42

look, I'm not I'm not that guy who's the

01:19:46

screaming parent from the side of the

01:19:50

sports field or uh at a game um abusing

01:19:55

refs or players at all. Um I was just as

01:19:59

a fan I was really frustrated because I

01:20:01

I feel I feel like that um sometimes

01:20:05

uh the New Zealand teams especially the

01:20:07

Warriors Warriors in any sporting

01:20:08

competition get a um yeah don't get

01:20:11

consistency at times.

01:20:13

>> Yeah. So this was this was a tweet you

01:20:15

wrote in the 2023 season. Um what was

01:20:18

it? Yeah. Was there backlash? Do you get

01:20:19

in trouble?

01:20:20

>> No. I

01:20:20

>> I haven't had to buy a beer in New

01:20:22

Zealand since.

01:20:23

>> So that's been good. I got a lot of

01:20:24

support. like a massive amount of

01:20:26

support because you you watch it and

01:20:28

they they go to the bunker for just

01:20:29

about every single Anyway, I don't want

01:20:32

to get you riled up with it. don't no

01:20:34

but like the the end of the day um refs

01:20:37

are human and they are just trying to do

01:20:40

their best and all of us make mistakes

01:20:43

>> and so what I was asking for was

01:20:45

consistency and I think um yeah the way

01:20:48

that uh I communicated if I had my time

01:20:50

again um I'd probably say it in a

01:20:52

different in a different way

01:20:54

>> to get a different to get a better

01:20:56

outcome but um you know it it just

01:20:59

demonstrated again hopefully you know uh

01:21:01

how proud I am to be a of uh the team

01:21:04

that supports the the Warriors, the

01:21:06

>> they're a fantastic club, fantastic

01:21:08

organization. Uh I don't know if you've

01:21:09

met Cam George, but man, he's a he's

01:21:12

amazing. Andrew Webster, what a leader.

01:21:15

>> I've had him on the podcast. Amazing

01:21:16

guy.

01:21:16

>> Yeah, just a phenomenal guy, right? And

01:21:19

um again, just great values, good

01:21:22

people, great work ethic. I love what

01:21:25

the club stands for. Five teams next

01:21:27

year. Um female teams going to going to

01:21:30

be launching. Um, so feel like we're

01:21:34

building some momentum to win our first

01:21:35

ever premiership.

01:21:36

>> Yeah. And so that wait, do you get into

01:21:39

trouble with anyone? Like who who tells

01:21:40

the CEO off?

01:21:41

>> Yeah. Well, no one really, but you know,

01:21:43

the NRL were a bit pissed off saying,

01:21:46

you know, you can't you can't criticize

01:21:48

uh you can't criticize our refs. So I

01:21:50

had a conversation with them and said,

01:21:52

yeah, that wasn't the that wasn't the

01:21:53

intention behind it. Uh it was to get,

01:21:55

you know, a uh a fair uh a fair go for

01:21:59

uh the the one New Zealand one New

01:22:01

Zealand Warriors. Um so I got a um I got

01:22:04

a request from the NRL to be a Facebook

01:22:06

friend after that. So I think we've made

01:22:08

>> We're good. We're good. Um

01:22:10

>> yeah. So So Vodafone and now one have

01:22:12

been um God, you've been sponsoring the

01:22:13

Warriors for Is it the longest

01:22:15

partnership in the NRL?

01:22:16

>> It is. Yeah.

01:22:17

>> What's what's the what's the ROI for you

01:22:19

guys? It must be a huge expense.

01:22:20

>> Uh well, no actually it's um Yeah, it's

01:22:23

pretty good. It's pretty good value.

01:22:24

Like I'm I can't say the exact number

01:22:26

because they've got a lot of lot of

01:22:27

sponsorships and a lot of commercial

01:22:29

commercial partners, but look, I think

01:22:31

it's a it's a

01:22:34

it's a fair amount to pay for

01:22:38

a long-term sponsorship where you get

01:22:40

the good with the bad and increasingly

01:22:44

more of the good. So, it's

01:22:47

>> They're a heartbreaking team, aren't

01:22:48

they?

01:22:49

>> They are. But the most loyal fan base

01:22:51

>> Yeah. Um the team behind it do an

01:22:55

incredible job for the fans. You know,

01:22:58

sellout crowds.

01:23:00

Uh they take the game throughout the

01:23:02

country. Their values and ethics are

01:23:06

again New Zealand at its best. Hard

01:23:08

work, innovation, honesty, trust, you

01:23:12

know, um

01:23:14

recruiting good people first across, you

01:23:16

know, every part of the organization. So

01:23:19

yeah, and and then you have years like

01:23:22

the last couple with the up the wires

01:23:26

momentum, you know, making the finals,

01:23:28

sellout crowds, playing really well,

01:23:31

scoring spectacular tries, fantastic

01:23:33

defense, attracting, you know, huge

01:23:36

talent from Australia where we had to

01:23:38

previously pay over the odds and now we

01:23:41

pay, you know, market rates for. Um,

01:23:44

yeah, we're in a really good really good

01:23:46

shape actually. So, it's a fantastic

01:23:50

sponsorship where I'd like to think that

01:23:52

we get amazing value for money and so do

01:23:54

the Warriors because, you know, we

01:23:56

amplify their brand and use our

01:23:57

platforms to do that

01:23:59

>> do that too. So,

01:24:00

>> yeah. Whenever it comes up for renewal,

01:24:02

like you're a massive fanboy, like we've

01:24:03

established that. When whenever it comes

01:24:05

up for renewal, do you come up against

01:24:06

some resistance from people in the team

01:24:08

like, "Oh, let's go."

01:24:09

>> No, no, not at all. And I've I've said

01:24:11

to Cam if uh if I had my uh my time, I'd

01:24:13

sign sign a 100red-year contract. Uh

01:24:16

that's not my job. It's probably past my

01:24:18

past my DF past my DFA. Yeah.

01:24:21

>> But you know um like no, we always

01:24:24

compare it to other sponsorships that

01:24:26

are available in the market and uh and

01:24:28

how much you'd pay pay for them and it's

01:24:30

it's great value for money. Um and it's

01:24:33

not really a sponsorship, but it really

01:24:35

is a partnership. It's it's a friendship

01:24:38

even. you know, we've got each other's

01:24:39

back after 20 25 years. And if it's not

01:24:42

100, I hope it's another another 25. And

01:24:44

there'll be good times and bad. And I

01:24:46

think that's why the fans in New Zealand

01:24:47

respect us as well. It's why it's often

01:24:49

called the one New Zealand Warriors.

01:24:50

People

01:24:51

>> no matter, you know, who are fans or the

01:24:53

media are happy to give us the

01:24:54

attribution because because of the the

01:24:57

loyalty. And other thing I would say is

01:24:58

that the game is going from strength to

01:25:01

strength. You know, the NRL,

01:25:03

they are so innovative. the way that

01:25:05

they've sped the game up, the way they

01:25:07

packaged the game up, the way they test

01:25:09

and trial rules and and to keep the

01:25:11

game, you know, the the the ball and

01:25:13

play and play more. Other sports codes,

01:25:15

I think, have got a lot to learn from

01:25:16

them, to be honest.

01:25:17

>> Oh, even the way they handled the

01:25:19

pandemic as well. And yeah, played on.

01:25:21

It was um yeah, really innovative.

01:25:23

>> And what a sacrifice the Warriors did,

01:25:24

you know, away from their families for

01:25:26

two, three, three years. So,

01:25:29

>> yeah. And um I'm excited. I'm going to

01:25:31

Vegas. So, as you mentioned, I'm I've

01:25:33

just turned 50. There are nine boys from

01:25:37

Invocle

01:25:39

uh going to Vegas for theirif for their

01:25:42

50th birthdays.

01:25:44

>> So, Vegas, watch out.

01:25:47

>> Sounds like um yeah, the hangover all

01:25:48

over again.

01:25:49

>> Yeah, the the tigers in the room.

01:25:51

>> The benchmark is everyone who gets on

01:25:53

the plane has to get back on at home.

01:25:56

So, uh that's the benchmark. As long as

01:25:59

we get back on that plane, then I think

01:26:01

everyone will be everyone will be fine.

01:26:03

>> Yeah. Ideally with a full set of teeth

01:26:04

as well.

01:26:05

>> Yeah. No facial tattoos or

01:26:07

>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, what about the

01:26:08

stadium in Christ Church? So, you guys

01:26:09

are um signed a 10 year sponsorship deal

01:26:12

with that.

01:26:13

>> Yeah. So, if we do sponsorships um we're

01:26:17

either big or nothing, right? So, we're

01:26:18

naming rights or we're nothing. We don't

01:26:20

like to Yeah. you go big or go home on

01:26:22

that stuff, which is why we're quite

01:26:24

particular about uh about where we

01:26:26

invest.

01:26:28

>> And uh

01:26:30

like the team down there um they've done

01:26:33

such an amazing such an amazing job. I

01:26:35

don't know if you've seen it, but it's

01:26:36

going up. It's on time, on budget.

01:26:39

>> The design's spectacular. Uh can the C

01:26:42

can Cantabrians love it. The South

01:26:45

Island loves it. Um, yeah, I I think

01:26:49

increasingly when uh big acts come to

01:26:52

New Zealand, they'll go to Oakland and

01:26:54

and and Christ Church. So, that's that's

01:26:56

exciting. We wanted an anchor point um

01:26:58

in the South Island to demonstrate that

01:27:01

we're just we're not an Oakland ccentric

01:27:03

brand, you know, uh we're about the

01:27:05

mainland as uh as well. And so, we're

01:27:08

putting a lot of technology into the

01:27:10

stadium to uh to help help enable it.

01:27:13

And it's going to be a fantastic

01:27:14

partnership. And of course we've got

01:27:16

partnerships with Live Nation. So we

01:27:18

bring with the biggest artists part

01:27:21

partnerships with the One New Zealand

01:27:22

Warriors as well. So hopefully with the

01:27:25

sport and with the um with the music

01:27:27

acts uh you know we'll have uh all

01:27:30

facets kind of locked up.

01:27:31

>> Yeah, you guys do a great job. I I was

01:27:33

um in Breakfast Radio when um Vodafone

01:27:36

came on board as a sponsor for the New

01:27:37

Zealand Music Awards.

01:27:38

>> Yes.

01:27:38

>> So it was sort of every year the the

01:27:39

awards were on. It was like average

01:27:41

average. Vodafone came on board. Amazing

01:27:43

amazing amazing. Then the sports should

01:27:45

end. Yeah. Back to average again.

01:27:46

>> Yeah.

01:27:47

>> So when we do it, we want to do it.

01:27:49

>> Do it. Yeah. Um, what do you want to do

01:27:51

next? Like bigger role, smaller role or

01:27:53

like

01:27:54

>> you're still like on the way up, you

01:27:56

think?

01:27:56

>> I hope so. Yeah. Um,

01:28:01

uh, it's I I just again I love New

01:28:04

Zealand, so

01:28:06

my preference is to continue to live and

01:28:09

work work here. Uh, I wouldn't want to

01:28:12

move if we had to move overseas until

01:28:15

after my daughter had finished high

01:28:16

school. So, she's 11. So, bit of a stint

01:28:20

there. Uh, I don't want to overstay my

01:28:22

welcome at 1 New Zealand either, though,

01:28:24

you know. So,

01:28:24

>> how do you know when the time's right?

01:28:26

>> Yeah. I don't know. This um it's not

01:28:29

right yet, but maybe I'll just know. So,

01:28:31

I get up every morning and I'm super

01:28:33

excited.

01:28:34

The again, it's a fast a fast changing

01:28:37

industry. uh generative and autonomous

01:28:41

AI is exploding and we're at the

01:28:44

forefront of that as well. So that I'm

01:28:46

always learning and developing. So

01:28:47

that's quite cool. I can see massive

01:28:49

opportunities for our customers and for

01:28:51

our business in that. If um if my owners

01:28:55

just said, "Hey JP,

01:28:58

uh it's just status quo. Just run the

01:29:01

business. Don't change a thing. Don't

01:29:02

touch a thing." That would definitely be

01:29:04

time to leave. I I'd get bored within

01:29:06

about 10 seconds. They're not like that

01:29:08

though. They are super ambitious and uh

01:29:10

and keen for us to accelerate. So that

01:29:12

would be one. And then I suppose if

01:29:14

another big opportunity came up to do

01:29:16

something cool that would be meaningful

01:29:18

and impactful for New Zealand. Uh then

01:29:22

I'd have a I'd have a look I'd have a

01:29:23

look at it. Definitely wouldn't be

01:29:25

politics. I get asked that.

01:29:26

>> Oh, that was going to be my next thing.

01:29:28

Was it?

01:29:28

>> Yeah. Like after I did I did wonder

01:29:30

that. I had a thought after after

01:29:31

watching like the career careers of um

01:29:34

Key and Luxon. No, no, no.

01:29:36

>> No. I always every time I see

01:29:37

>> Why would you want it? I'm pleased you

01:29:38

said that.

01:29:39

>> Every time I see a polit politician, I

01:29:42

uh thank them for their sacrifice.

01:29:44

>> It is

01:29:45

>> because man like it's not just the

01:29:48

sacrifice that you see. It's a sacrifice

01:29:50

that you don't that you don't see. you

01:29:52

know, the scrutiny that they come under

01:29:54

at a cafe or in their social lives, the

01:29:57

the time that they spend away from their

01:30:00

homes, the documentation they have to

01:30:03

read, the hours they have to uh put in,

01:30:06

the significance of the decisions that

01:30:09

they have to uh have to make. Uh I'm

01:30:12

also not sure that I'm thick skinned

01:30:14

enough to take the you know, crap the

01:30:17

cop the criticism that that they get.

01:30:20

Even if you get into government, you

01:30:21

know that 50% of the country didn't vote

01:30:22

for you. So that's quite hard, right?

01:30:25

You imagine walking not that you imagine

01:30:27

walking through and going knowing 50% in

01:30:29

this room didn't back you. You know,

01:30:31

it's a pretty it's a pretty hard thing

01:30:33

to get your to get your get your head

01:30:35

around. And then you know again also

01:30:37

family uh social media is brutal. The

01:30:41

impact on kids um yeah family all that

01:30:46

kind of stuff. It's um and then what

01:30:48

I've convinced myself is that if you are

01:30:51

in a business that can make

01:30:53

positive impact at scale, you can do

01:30:56

great things for New Zealand still even

01:30:58

if you're not necessarily in politics

01:31:00

running a running a portfolio. And so,

01:31:03

>> you know, this this deal with um SpaceX,

01:31:07

I think will do more for New Zealand's

01:31:10

telecommunications infrastructure that a

01:31:13

government policy ever could. uh and

01:31:15

we're funding it so there's no cost to

01:31:16

the taxpayer. So that's pretty amazing.

01:31:19

Um and you know hopefully what we do

01:31:22

with autonomous a um AI will be another

01:31:26

big thing that that New Zealand will

01:31:27

will benefit from. So I also probably

01:31:30

don't see you know don't see the need to

01:31:34

move into politics to make a a big

01:31:36

positive impact on on New Zealand. But

01:31:38

you know what's next? I don't know. I

01:31:41

hope it's just within my control and

01:31:43

that uh that I don't, you know, get that

01:31:46

tap on the shoulder going, "What are you

01:31:47

doing here?" And I go, "Yeah, I know."

01:31:48

And then I'm off.

01:31:49

>> The bad shoulder tap. Yeah. Yeah.

01:31:51

Exactly. Yeah. Also, yeah. Um Yeah.

01:31:53

Politics. I Yeah. I mean, with your

01:31:55

skeletons in the closet, I don't know if

01:31:56

you could if you'd be the prime

01:31:58

minister. Do you want to talk about the

01:31:59

um

01:32:00

>> Exactly.

01:32:00

>> the McDonald's incident at the Sevens.

01:32:03

>> When was this? Were you at McDonald's at

01:32:05

the time or was this post

01:32:06

>> No,

01:32:07

>> post McDonald's.

01:32:08

>> This may have been pre McDonald's. Um,

01:32:11

>> so how old were you like in your 20s,

01:32:12

30s?

01:32:13

>> Early 20s.

01:32:14

>> In your defense, those um hotel doors,

01:32:16

they do slam alarmingly quick, don't

01:32:18

they?

01:32:18

>> Yeah. So, uh, this was Wellington 7s.

01:32:23

I was we're all dressed up Mexican

01:32:25

theme. It was the day one of two days.

01:32:29

Uh, as people had drunk way too much and

01:32:32

needed something to soak it up so I

01:32:35

didn't wake up with a hangover the next

01:32:36

morning. Bought McDonald's.

01:32:39

uh for whatever reason took all my

01:32:41

clothes off in the hotel room, was were

01:32:43

eating my was eating my McDonald's nude,

01:32:46

and then was like, "Oh, I know I'm going

01:32:48

to wake up feeling really rough in the

01:32:49

morning, and I'm going to feel even

01:32:51

worse if I can smell that kind of old

01:32:53

McDonald smell. How do I get rid of

01:32:57

this?" And so I I was like in my drunken

01:33:00

state going, "I'll uh put the bag

01:33:04

outside my room." And then as I put the

01:33:08

bag outside my room, I heard a click and

01:33:11

it was like 3:00 in the morning and I

01:33:14

was like, "Oh my god, I've got a

01:33:17

McDonald's bag and I'm new." And so then

01:33:20

I was like, "There must be

01:33:23

uh some

01:33:25

like kind of uh closet with towels or

01:33:28

something in it." And so I started in my

01:33:30

drunken state trying doors, which would

01:33:33

have been other people's hotel room

01:33:35

doors. And I then was like, "Oh my god."

01:33:38

I went down the next floor thinking,

01:33:40

"Well, the, you know, the the closet

01:33:41

with the laundry might be on the next

01:33:43

floor down, trying doors on the next

01:33:44

floor down." Until I gave up and then I

01:33:47

had to go to reception with a McDonald's

01:33:50

bag in front of me. The door dings open.

01:33:54

Unfortunately, there's like 10 people in

01:33:56

reception, even at 3:00 in the morning,

01:33:58

plus reception staff. And the beauty of

01:34:01

it is the guy just looked up from

01:34:03

reception and said, "What room?"

01:34:07

>> He'd seen it before

01:34:09

>> every weekend.

01:34:10

>> He's like, "What room?" I said, "My

01:34:11

room." He grabbed and he unfortunately

01:34:13

had to come up with me cuz I had to

01:34:15

describe what was in my room to cuz I

01:34:17

didn't have ID clearly. And uh

01:34:20

describing the room and the elevator was

01:34:24

a mirrored one. So there was nohere to

01:34:28

hide my body from him. And I remember

01:34:31

the music the lift elevator was like and

01:34:34

I was just like, "Oh my god." Sobered me

01:34:37

up real sobered me up real quick. So uh

01:34:42

yeah, there there are a few stories uh

01:34:46

like that which as you've said, I'm

01:34:48

pretty glad that uh yeah, social media

01:34:51

wasn't as prevalent when I was young and

01:34:53

people hadn't haven't got any photos

01:34:54

luckily. So, um, Vegas next year. Um,

01:34:57

undies to bed each night.

01:34:58

>> Yeah. Undies to bed. And that's that's

01:35:02

my benchmark. That's my benchmark. Do

01:35:03

not get locked out of my hotel room

01:35:05

naked.

01:35:06

>> Yeah. Oh, that's great. It's a great

01:35:07

story. I I've had

01:35:09

>> unfortunately a true one.

01:35:10

>> Yeah.

01:35:10

>> Have you had a similar situation?

01:35:12

>> Similar similar thing. Yeah. Sim similar

01:35:13

thing. And yeah, undies ever since. But

01:35:15

those doors, it's like what? How did

01:35:17

they shut so quickly?

01:35:18

>> I know. Exactly. And I'll never forget

01:35:20

that sound of the click. Uh, and I'll

01:35:22

never forget. But as I said, you know

01:35:24

that what room? It's clearly something

01:35:26

that happens regularly, you know,

01:35:29

>> every damn weekend.

01:35:29

>> Every hotel room.

01:35:30

>> Every damn weekend. Um couple of finish

01:35:32

with any any regrets?

01:35:36

>> Any regrets?

01:35:41

>> Uh yeah, there's a like when I was a

01:35:44

teenager, you know, I mentioned before,

01:35:47

you know, you're too cool for school. I

01:35:49

remember um being a 16-year-old in one

01:35:52

moment being a little bit disrespectful

01:35:54

to my grandmother. It was only once, but

01:35:57

I remember her telling me off and I

01:35:59

remember like, you know, I'm now 15 and

01:36:02

it was when I was 16. So any moment like

01:36:05

that where um I felt that I was

01:36:10

disrespectful no matter what age or not

01:36:13

as caring or didn't rep represent myself

01:36:17

uh in the way that I would like to.

01:36:19

That's probably my biggest my biggest

01:36:21

regret.

01:36:22

>> It's it's all those human moments more

01:36:24

than anything else. Nothing really

01:36:25

workrelated, you know, like the jokes

01:36:27

about the um the tra the the placemat

01:36:30

reprints, all that kind of stuff, you

01:36:32

know.

01:36:33

isn't it?

01:36:34

>> But in the scheme of things, it's

01:36:35

>> it's any moment where I um I hurt I hurt

01:36:39

someone.

01:36:40

>> That's the stuff that uh I'd regret.

01:36:42

>> I reckon that says a lot about your

01:36:43

character that you know. Three and a

01:36:45

half decades later, you're still Yeah.

01:36:47

That's the first thing that comes to

01:36:48

mind.

01:36:48

>> It is. And I I remember I can remember

01:36:50

that. I can remember that feeling of

01:36:51

letting down my grandmother now.

01:36:53

>> Yeah.

01:36:54

>> Are you proud of yourself?

01:36:58

>> Yeah, I think I am. Like I I know I'm a

01:37:00

good person like Steve Hansen. Um,

01:37:03

one of my favorite quotes of his is,

01:37:05

"The mirror never lies."

01:37:07

>> And so, like, I know I'm not perfect by

01:37:11

any stretch, but I know that I try and

01:37:13

be the best that I can be, and I try not

01:37:16

to beat myself up when I let myself uh

01:37:19

let myself down. So, um, yeah, I'm

01:37:23

proud. Um the thing I'm probably most

01:37:25

proud of is my children and feel like um

01:37:28

I had a part to play in

01:37:31

uh bringing them up with with good

01:37:33

values and and being and being good good

01:37:36

kids. I'm proud of the relationships

01:37:38

that I've got. I'm proud I'm a good

01:37:39

friend. uh and you know um hopefully the

01:37:43

people that I've had the opportunity to

01:37:45

work with or be friends with or or talk

01:37:48

to um have found it a you know a

01:37:52

positive engagement and um yeah so I'm

01:37:55

proud of the I'm proud again probably

01:37:56

the proud of the human stuff as much as

01:37:58

anything.

01:37:59

>> Well Jason Paris this has been a lot of

01:38:01

fun today. It's been great. You're a

01:38:03

unique CEO and it's been um fantastic to

01:38:05

sit down with you and pick your brains.

01:38:07

>> Yeah, thank you. I uh yeah thanks for

01:38:09

having me. um really really enjoyed it

01:38:10

and as always these type of

01:38:12

conversations

01:38:13

uh you learn as much you know through

01:38:15

the conversation uh when you're talking

01:38:18

about stuff is uh as you think you're

01:38:20

trying to help others with as well. So

01:38:22

feels like a you know thank you for

01:38:24

having me on uh um every time I get a

01:38:26

kind of request from someone who I see

01:38:29

as a famous New Zealander I kind of like

01:38:31

yourself I go what me you know so um but

01:38:35

surreal bit surreal being here but uh

01:38:37

thanks for the opportunity. Yeah. Well,

01:38:39

no, it's been great. I feel feel bad now

01:38:40

for stitching you up and getting you to

01:38:41

tell the McDonald's story. It was it was

01:38:43

lowhanging fruit and I didn't need to go

01:38:45

there. No, you're a great you're a great

01:38:47

New Zealander and um yeah, thank you so

01:38:48

much for being on the podcast.

01:38:49

>> No, thanks for your time.

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