00:00:06
Jason Paris welcome to my podcast thanks
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very much for having me Dom he and um
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congratulations today uh the day that
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we're recording this is your sixth
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anniversary at 1 inz it is yeah so it's
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gone super fast uh more gray hair uh a
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little little bit more experienced I
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feel like You' you've been Rocking The
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Silver Fox look since your 30s you yeah
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it's been it has been while and uh the
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beauty of going gray early is people say
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you haven't aged so uh yeah so I've I've
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rocked The Silver Fox like for for a
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while oh you do I think you look um I'm
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not just pissing in your pocket here to
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get on the right side of you early in
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the podcast but um you turned 50 last
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week I I think you're you're looking
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great maybe it's the dimples that give
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you that oh thank you youthful is this
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the longest job you've had in your
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corporate uh career no the one before
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this it was seven years but I've been in
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the Talco industry now for kind of what
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that means 15 so longest industry uh
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I've uh I've been in where was the
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previous one was that spark yeah so it
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took a took a job actually not with vone
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New Zealand but to move across to London
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with my family and then at the last
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minute it changed and I got told I was
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CEO of New Zealand for voone way back
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then and so um our plans quickly
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reversed and uh and we stayed in ALA
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which has been you know given what
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happened the last few years and Co Etc
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was was a blessing in the in the scheme
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of things yeah so um
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yeah let's run through your your career
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so it's one and Z for the last six years
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spark before that um let's go backwards
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uh so I had a brief stunt at media works
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and TV um and then before that was
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tvnz and then uh before that was noia uh
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and then before that was McDonald's uh
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back in New Zealand so I
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had just four years uh in London uh
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working with noia um and the rest of
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those jobs were uh were were were in New
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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 in
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that as well because when I kind of came
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into the media industry in
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2007 um you know technology was starting
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to play a bigger part in uh in that
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industry too geez it's not a bad CV is
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it from for a kid from Southland with um
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outy education yeah done you've done all
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right I've been pretty lucky and the the
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cool thing about it is uh I haven't had
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to apply for two many of those those
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roles proactively of been shoulder
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tapped for whatever reason uh I think
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that's one of the beauties of the New
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Zealand Marketplace is that you know
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it's a bit of a village and so um the
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relationships that you have often you
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know create create doors in fact my very
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first job um was on the way back from a
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rugby trip to the West Coast and the
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rugby manager of the Southland team was
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the rugby manager of Trust Bank
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Southland and he said what are you
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thinking about doing you want to come
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and work for me and so um that was my uh
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my Pivot into uh into working into
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working life although I also got uh
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declined for teachers training College
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just before that too so it was kind of a
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a forc a forced move because the
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teaching industry didn't want me way
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back in ' 92 GE what they do for some
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male teachers now also I saw the car
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when you pulled up today and pod lab not
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many school teachers driving cars like
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that yeah I'm pretty lucky that's uh
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yeah it's a it's a nice car saved up for
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two or three years for that one and um
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yeah it's uh kind of uh my little treat
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oh good on you good on you what would
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you say your it's not a mesera or a two
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sports car though it's a it's a good SUV
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though it is it's a it's a sensible car
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for for a man of your vintage okay
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that's very nice um what would you say
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your top five um like career Greatest
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Hits are like surely the the transition
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from vone to 1 andz the Rebrand is one
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of them yeah vone to uh 1 andz um
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Telecom to spark um oh you were part of
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that yeah yeah read that uh I said this
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ain't your first radio no no um
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uh coming up with and and launching tvnz
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on demand uh so that was a big a big
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kind of industry move I'd say pretty
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important asset for tvnz uh back
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then um I didn't have anything to do
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with 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 canbury
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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 the
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culture that we built
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uh around around that time and they kind
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of do a lot with a little uh mentality
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and then 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 MC cheese uh when I was
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in my uh yes yes yes and um uh so yeah
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there's a there's there's a few there's
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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 what
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what about um career uh greater shits uh
00:04:59
the McDonald's Place met yeah so that
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was a shocker uh what's the story there
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so uh the advertising agency put a bunch
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of um faces in front of me and pictures
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and we 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 campaign and I I I
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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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maie Queen's grandson on it which is
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very bad to be eating food off anyone
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from mdom 1.2
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million trat placemats 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 that
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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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been a fun fun conversation 1.2 million
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true have to be have to be recalled so
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yeah it wasn't a that wasn't that wasn't
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great um low lights are any uh any
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structural change when you're having
00:06:08
hard conversations about Job losses that
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that's the worst that keeps you um keeps
00:06:12
you up at night um yeah those will be
00:06:16
the things that that are the most kind
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of draining and then you have to
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remember that you're making the decision
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and having the conversation but it's
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much worse for the person that you're
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having the 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 placemates
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it's it's it's a bit of money lost it's
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a stupid mistake but um yeah I'm not
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surprised that you said that about the
00:06:43
people yeah it's the worst and uh you
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know unfortunately with me what you see
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is 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 we
00:06:59
and and sometimes you get those things
00:07:01
wrong and those are the things that you
00:07:02
beat yourself up about the most yeah hey
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Will um dig deep into your into your
00:07:06
management style and your theories and
00:07:08
things um but first of all let's go the
00:07:09
way back so um Jason Paris who is he kid
00:07:12
from Southland yeah proud southlander uh
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born in in vagle uh solo mom she was
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young uh 16 and then uh my father uh he
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left straight away and didn't didn't
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come back so I've he was never a part of
00:07:28
my life until um he actually died and we
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went to his funeral in uh in Christ
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Church had no had no connection with him
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my mom's an incredible woman very strong
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uh a really privileged to have a young
00:07:40
grandmother now in fact she was just up
00:07:42
in the weekend playing shooting Hoops
00:07:44
with uh her grand her grandchildren so
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that's cool but at the time um Sodom mom
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16 uh domestic purposes benefit uh kind
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of life been her teenage years been
00:07:56
taken away from her by having a young
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young child you know what a of sacrifice
00:08:00
were you were you an only child yeah so
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Mom uh didn't you know my father left
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straight away didn't come back and then
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for whatever reason um mom didn't have a
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relationship that uh stuck to a point
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where she would have another another
00:08:17
child and so it ended up being basically
00:08:21
me and her and then uh my grandparents
00:08:23
so her mom and dad uh who um who kind of
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you know brought me up so freezing
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worker stock uh right through my family
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so my grandparents freezing workers my
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uncle my mom ended up after I got to the
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school age where she could go and uh be
00:08:40
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 me
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inspector for a number of years yeah so
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if you're if you've just turned 50 she
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must be 66 yeah what are your um yeah
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what are your recollection of those
00:08:53
years cuz you you and I are similar age
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and um you I remember when my mom and
00:08:58
dad broke I was I was from pal mom and
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dad broke up when I was about 10 and um
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there was only one other kid in my class
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Craig who had like like a was from a
00:09:05
broken home it was such a rare thing um
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yeah was it like embarrassing did you
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did you feel like you you know you
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didn't fit in or you felt different no
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not at all actually uh and
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uh 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 could find themselves in
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um well they found themselves in back
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then and still find themselves in today
00:09:35
so to be honest although we didn't have
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a lot I didn't realize it at all you
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know um we moved moved a bit again you
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know social welfare housing all that
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type of type of thing but uh I never
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feel like I never remember feeling that
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I was missing out on anything and
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actually also most importantly that I
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couldn't do anything that I put my mind
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to either if you my mom's kind of Dred
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to me if you work hard you give it your
00:10:01
best then you can achieve achieve
00:10:03
anything and so it's only kind of now uh
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when I have you know privilege to have a
00:10:10
nice car they didn't realize we didn't
00:10:12
have a nice car but
00:10:15
um at at you know food on the table bed
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loving environment a mom that believed
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in supported in me um and and actually I
00:10:26
was I was lucky I had a lot of positive
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positive role models my grand parents I
00:10:29
mentioned my uncle but also School
00:10:31
teachers um Sports coaches so it was a
00:10:35
tough tough environment in Nago and
00:10:37
Southland but um I was surrounded by a
00:10:39
bunch of great people and did you have
00:10:41
like a chip on your shoulder about your
00:10:43
dad or anything how how did your mom
00:10:45
sort of address that no not at all
00:10:48
uh the probably the biggest chip on my
00:10:50
shoulder was when we I had children
00:10:53
myself and uh I realized that there are
00:10:56
little moments that you know uh and the
00:10:59
is a kind of a generalization that maybe
00:11:02
your dad teaches you back a back a
00:11:04
trailer and that's like you know
00:11:06
something that you would say now
00:11:07
nowadays or put a um a hook on a on a um
00:11:10
uh on a fishing fishing line I hadn't
00:11:13
been taught any of those traditional dad
00:11:16
uh dad thing so I'm having to YouTube
00:11:18
them and teach and teach myself because
00:11:20
I want to pass them on to my kids both
00:11:22
my boys and and my daughter to pick a
00:11:24
trailer and to and to fish um Etc when I
00:11:28
went met my um my wife uh ra she
00:11:32
wondered why I hadn't um sort out to
00:11:37
reconnect with my
00:11:39
father uh and I'd never really
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contemplated it um and probably the
00:11:45
reason was I didn't feel like I'd missed
00:11:47
anything uh
00:11:50
and so it wasn't really until um I
00:11:53
started having we had our children where
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I was like maybe I did miss miss miss
00:11:58
miss something
00:12:00
but it didn't wasn't enough Drive of me
00:12:03
to reconnect then uh then either uh my
00:12:07
grandparents lived in the same house for
00:12:11
would have mean 20 to 25 years after I
00:12:14
was born and so he had plenty of time to
00:12:17
and neag was a small place even though
00:12:19
he moved to uh to Christ Church if he
00:12:20
wanted to find me he could have so
00:12:23
probably the only probably sadness is
00:12:25
you know if if um you're dead with a
00:12:28
with a kid uh it's probably when you're
00:12:30
17 you can make an excuse that you might
00:12:32
be a little bit immature and and not
00:12:35
prepared to stick around but yet hope
00:12:37
when you're 37 or or 47 that you might
00:12:40
have some reflection and go actually you
00:12:42
might want to reconnect with uh with
00:12:44
your child um unfortunately he didn't he
00:12:47
didn't want to yeah you you got no anger
00:12:50
about that no because sort of Indi to it
00:12:54
yeah and I um he I you know I refer to
00:12:57
him as my father he's not my not my dad
00:12:59
um your dad's a t I've got firm views on
00:13:02
this having um You' been involved in a
00:13:04
family adoption and stuff like a dad's a
00:13:06
title that's got to be earned yeah
00:13:07
correct and so that's just not how um
00:13:11
how I how I see him um you know un
00:13:14
unfortunately he passed away uh mom
00:13:16
found out about it we went to his
00:13:18
funeral to pay our respects but also uh
00:13:21
find out about health history right he
00:13:22
died uh quite young and so um we want to
00:13:25
know if there's anything that I need to
00:13:26
watch out for or our kids needed to
00:13:28
watch out for that was a kind of a nice
00:13:30
moment though because there um uh by all
00:13:33
accounts and this is a whole the the
00:13:35
story of his funeral was a uh a podcast
00:13:38
in itself but I found out I had five
00:13:40
half Brothers I didn't know uh that
00:13:43
existed and we all found out about each
00:13:46
other at the funeral and so younger than
00:13:50
you I'm assuming yeah I'm the eldest so
00:13:52
I went to the funeral his this funeral
00:13:55
was opened by someone who said I'm
00:13:58
Robert eldest
00:14:00
son and [ __ ] my wife didn't say that
00:14:03
she' had about two two big bottles of
00:14:05
Spates by that point she was like he's
00:14:08
not the eldest son and I'm like shut up
00:14:10
we're only here to pay our respects we
00:14:12
don't want to k a scene uh but over time
00:14:15
uh over that funeral um a scene was
00:14:17
created because people started to find
00:14:19
out because um my uncle so my father's
00:14:23
brother turned up and uh and he was from
00:14:26
Vago and uh and he mentioned someone and
00:14:29
then everyone at the funeral started to
00:14:31
find out about uh me and then all of us
00:14:35
found out about another set another two
00:14:37
boys so there was I like three sort of
00:14:39
three family groups yeah yeah so he had
00:14:44
uh six boys to three different women so
00:14:49
oh my God oh my God that's a that's a
00:14:53
lot to take in yeah how many years ago
00:14:55
was this the funeral uh about what would
00:14:57
it been I'd say five five years ago five
00:15:01
years ago now and um it's also when I
00:15:03
found out about my connection to nahu
00:15:05
which I didn't know existed at that time
00:15:06
and it set me on a journey to mly for my
00:15:09
kids to just see if the connection with
00:15:12
that side of the family was something
00:15:14
that would be meaningful um for them so
00:15:16
um we've just started taking some gentle
00:15:19
baby steps along along that Journey but
00:15:22
yeah man that was a pretty mind-blowing
00:15:24
experience where you find out well each
00:15:27
you all find out you got five half
00:15:28
Brothers did know exist all at the same
00:15:30
time at a funeral so it's a it's a lot
00:15:33
to unpack it is a lot to unpack it's a
00:15:35
lot yeah you need a lot of space to to
00:15:38
well and have you got a relationship now
00:15:39
with um your half Brothers uh no not
00:15:42
really no like uh social media
00:15:45
relationship MH you know
00:15:47
so uh lots of um happy birthdays
00:15:51
congratulations that kind of that kind
00:15:52
of stuff it's a lot of extra free phones
00:15:54
to hand out is it it is and like I said
00:15:57
to I said to re like I don't get to
00:15:59
spend enough time with my family and my
00:16:02
closest mates that I've you know known
00:16:04
since I was 5 years old uh let alone a
00:16:07
whole bunch of other people to um build
00:16:09
a relationship but you know that might
00:16:11
change when I have more time they're
00:16:12
really good people uh I really enjoyed
00:16:15
uh catching up uh catching up with them
00:16:17
and
00:16:19
um yeah and who and who knows but uh
00:16:23
yeah all of us I think were taken by
00:16:25
surprise and have just kind of socially
00:16:27
stayed in contact and G how do we even
00:16:28
deal with that yeah and and what do you
00:16:30
know about your your father like was was
00:16:33
he a good dad to some of the other kids
00:16:35
not really no so well that must be
00:16:36
pleasing in a way yeah yeah like I think
00:16:39
uh I don't I think he was a father not a
00:16:41
dad again like that that that point and
00:16:44
don't want to speak too ill of the of
00:16:46
the Dead um there was a big funeral so
00:16:49
clearly he had a lot of friends uh and
00:16:52
uh and people who liked him yeah um he
00:16:56
was very social uh big drink
00:16:59
big smoker and died of lung cancer
00:17:03
um the interesting thing was people
00:17:06
would come up to were coming up to me at
00:17:07
the funeral and would say I uh you know
00:17:11
was so sorry we didn't acknowledge you
00:17:13
and I and I said oh it is what it is he
00:17:15
would say it is what it is and then I'd
00:17:17
say something else and theyd go he would
00:17:19
say that and then they tell you about
00:17:21
and I said oh I'm Sports mad he was
00:17:23
Sports mad you know
00:17:25
people and New Zealand is a sports mad
00:17:28
and a lot of people say it is what it is
00:17:29
but people you know kind of grabbing or
00:17:31
gravitating onto things that uh were a
00:17:34
connection uh and also you know I
00:17:37
probably have they said I had some
00:17:38
mannerisms and some ways of talking or
00:17:42
whatever that uh that reminded um them
00:17:46
of of him so without a doubt like when
00:17:49
you have a child you are you know 50%
00:17:53
50% you shake it up into a cocktail mix
00:17:55
and that's what you get so I'm going to
00:17:57
I'm going to have a bit of uh a bit of
00:17:59
connection with him but don't no regrets
00:18:02
no no like there's no I've never never
00:18:04
been a point in my life at all where
00:18:07
I've uh regretted not um not reaching
00:18:12
out earlier and uh and connecting with
00:18:14
them I think that speaks volumes about
00:18:16
your mom and the job she did so you
00:18:19
never felt like there was um like a gap
00:18:21
or a hole there and did you did you when
00:18:23
when did you have an appreciation of
00:18:25
just how how badass she was and what a
00:18:27
good job she did she you know CU your
00:18:29
kids are 16 now right same your kids are
00:18:31
the same sort of age as what your mom
00:18:32
was when she had you you're still a kid
00:18:34
at that age yeah like did you did you
00:18:36
ever an appreciation growing up that
00:18:38
about your mom or when did that
00:18:41
come suppose when you're growing up you
00:18:43
don't really think about it do you well
00:18:44
you know also you know you're teenager
00:18:46
you're a bit of a [ __ ] too you're not
00:18:47
thinking you're thinking about yourself
00:18:48
versus you know think about your own
00:18:51
teenage years you know um luckily our
00:18:53
kids are a little bit different and um
00:18:56
and great and great kids I I think was
00:18:59
really when we had our own children and
00:19:03
realized how difficult it is to bring up
00:19:07
uh bring up a kid that I appreciate and
00:19:10
then also now that I'm you know of this
00:19:13
of this age putting kids aside just the
00:19:16
relationship that I've got with with Mom
00:19:18
with Mom now and thinking about um how
00:19:22
difficult it must have been to be in her
00:19:25
situation uh and the sacrifices that she
00:19:28
that she made
00:19:31
but it's it's a it was I know I've use
00:19:34
that word a lot it's a privilege like I
00:19:36
got given leadership at a very early age
00:19:38
like probably three years old to do
00:19:40
stuff right jobs around the house or
00:19:42
responsibility and that was three four
00:19:45
five six uh a lot of change in my life
00:19:47
which means I actually I love change I
00:19:50
love Industries and jobs and life that
00:19:53
is free flowing doesn't that doesn't uh
00:19:56
doesn't stress me stress me out out at
00:19:58
all
00:19:59
um and also I have a sense of I suppose
00:20:01
of positivity that
00:20:03
um if you put your mind to something
00:20:07
you've got people even just one person
00:20:09
in your life that believes in you and
00:20:11
sees that you've got potential and tells
00:20:13
you've got potential the world as your
00:20:14
oyster so from that background um it's
00:20:20
given me a hugely positive view on life
00:20:25
and potential of anyone from anywhere
00:20:28
across AC Ross the country uh and so you
00:20:30
know um it's another gift that mom's
00:20:33
given
00:20:34
me wow that's awesome yeah and it's it's
00:20:37
awesome that she's still um young enough
00:20:39
that you know you can tell her these
00:20:40
things and she knows how appreciated she
00:20:42
is and what an awesome job she did and
00:20:44
she's got a Toy Boy and Barry who's 64
00:20:47
and uh Barry and Grandad Barry's uh he's
00:20:50
been around for 20 years so the
00:20:52
entire uh entire uh childhood of our of
00:20:55
our kids and so he is the grandfather um
00:20:57
and he's a great man so um yeah we're
00:21:00
lucky to have him in uh in our lives as
00:21:01
as well and maybe if they'd met earlier
00:21:04
then there might have been another
00:21:05
another child but they met later in life
00:21:07
and um and that's great and uh you know
00:21:09
they are they partners in crime do you
00:21:11
know um just one more question about
00:21:13
your dad do you know if he like follow
00:21:15
followed your career from afar or
00:21:16
anything like that no at all uh because
00:21:20
he he must have been well you lived in
00:21:21
the same town a while you were growing
00:21:22
up no no so he he moved so from what I
00:21:26
understand is uh he moved from inago to
00:21:29
Christ Church pretty much straight away
00:21:30
and didn't uh and didn't come back and
00:21:33
um and if he did come back to inago to
00:21:36
see his parents or um his brothers and
00:21:39
sisters didn't uh didn't seek me
00:21:41
out uh and so yeah it was never like Mom
00:21:46
mom never ever uh described him in a
00:21:49
negative way like um I it was only when
00:21:52
I was much older that I started asking
00:21:55
mom a little bit about about him that
00:21:58
you know told me a little bit about what
00:21:59
he's like and she's kept me connected
00:22:02
with his brothers and sisters um so my
00:22:05
uncles and aunties but they were more
00:22:06
like not proper uncles and aunties but
00:22:09
kind of um friends older friends of Ms
00:22:12
Etc and they've told me a few stories
00:22:14
along the way as uh as well um I knew he
00:22:17
was a good athlete good longdistance
00:22:19
runner uh but you know um I'd give him a
00:22:23
break when he was 17 I wouldn't have G I
00:22:25
don't give him a break when he was you
00:22:27
know 47 yeah yeah do you forgive
00:22:31
him it's a good
00:22:34
question well I'm not sure I've got
00:22:36
anything to forgive him for because I
00:22:37
don't feel like I've missed out on
00:22:40
anything
00:22:45
um yeah I'd like to I'd like to think
00:22:48
that he if he had his time again would
00:22:52
regret not being a dead to me but I
00:22:58
don't know
00:22:58
yeah I definitely would but it's not
00:23:00
like um yeah it seems sad like a waste
00:23:02
of a life in a way CU it seems like it's
00:23:05
not just a mistake he made with you it's
00:23:06
a mistake he made repeatedly with yeah I
00:23:08
can't speak I can't speak for my um half
00:23:11
brothers and the fact that they were all
00:23:14
at his funeral and um uh and were there
00:23:18
and uh opened up uh I think he it's it's
00:23:22
clearly he improved uh over over time uh
00:23:26
so
00:23:28
so that's so that's great but um yeah he
00:23:32
just he didn't play that role in in uh
00:23:34
in in my life so yeah like bottom line
00:23:37
is I do forgive him because there's
00:23:39
nothing to forgive um but there's some
00:23:42
regret I think there yeah well thanks
00:23:45
for sharing that I I appreciate it is it
00:23:47
hard to talk about now or not really uh
00:23:49
no not really I think you know that
00:23:51
question you just asked then do I
00:23:52
forgive
00:23:53
him it kind of struck an emotional cord
00:23:56
because it made
00:23:58
me more reflective of the life I've the
00:24:02
relationship I've got with my own
00:24:03
children and how much I value value that
00:24:06
so it makes me sad that someone that uh
00:24:12
you know was my father didn't value that
00:24:16
that's the sad part I think and
00:24:19
um but I can't change that now so yeah
00:24:22
move on yeah cuz you're um you're you're
00:24:25
you're very very much a Hands-On Deb um
00:24:28
I I saw a LinkedIn post a couple of
00:24:30
weeks ago um about you being invited
00:24:32
some to some starlink launch in the
00:24:33
States but it clashes with what is it
00:24:35
like your daughter's prize giving or it
00:24:37
was her year six graduation bro do it do
00:24:40
it by FaceTime go go go over to the
00:24:42
styling thing like you've been a really
00:24:44
good dad you haven't missed anything
00:24:46
important you know come on I think go to
00:24:49
The Styling thing I think that's uh that
00:24:51
is one of the um results of uh not
00:24:55
having a uh a dad in my life
00:24:59
and and my wife uh has unlocked this
00:25:05
is I'm chasing to be the greatest dead
00:25:08
and I and I and I and I I'll never think
00:25:10
it's going to be good enough you know so
00:25:12
you want to do more and more and more
00:25:13
and more and more and uh and I beat
00:25:16
myself up about about stuff I'm getting
00:25:19
better at it um I don't think that the
00:25:21
year six graduation versus the Starlin
00:25:23
and SpaceX launch that was a deliberate
00:25:26
decision because I was you know I and um
00:25:29
I talked to my daughter and I said you
00:25:32
know how this year six graduation you
00:25:34
know how big a deal it is I didn't put
00:25:36
any pressure because I'm about to not go
00:25:38
and meet Elon Musk and go and watch this
00:25:40
rocket launch she said Dad it's the
00:25:43
biggest moment in my life and at that
00:25:45
point it was done there are going to be
00:25:46
plenty more rocket launchers hopefully
00:25:49
plenty more opportunities to go to space
00:25:51
X but I'm never going to get that year
00:25:53
six graduation back but don't get me
00:25:55
wrong I don't go to every single thing
00:25:58
that she would like me to go to so uh
00:26:00
she had Athletics day two weeks ago uh I
00:26:04
couldn't get to it I know that other
00:26:06
moms and dads uh were there so it's not
00:26:09
every single event that I that I get to
00:26:11
but it's the ones that either really are
00:26:13
really important to me uh or really
00:26:16
important to her or the or the two boys
00:26:19
uh and I'm proud to say that I haven't
00:26:21
haven't missed that moment a moment and
00:26:23
um and I'm proud that actually I've
00:26:24
worked for organizations and I've been
00:26:27
in teams that have uh supported me to
00:26:29
make it happen and and I would uh I
00:26:32
would I would them good on you I I think
00:26:35
that's admirable but Devil's Advocate it
00:26:37
would be very easy for you to say listen
00:26:38
my dad didn't come to any of my things
00:26:40
and I turned out fine yeah I know but so
00:26:43
I think it's actually more of a that's
00:26:45
why I made that observation I think it's
00:26:47
more of potentially me driving it like
00:26:50
don't get me wrong I think when my
00:26:52
daughter was doing her dance and doing
00:26:54
her songs and I was yeah know I think it
00:26:57
was lovely for her to see my smiling
00:26:59
face but selfishly it was even more
00:27:01
lovely for me to see her smiling her
00:27:03
smiling face and I wouldn't want want
00:27:04
have want to be anywhere else than that
00:27:07
than that that that moment but you're
00:27:09
right
00:27:11
um I don't necessarily think that uh
00:27:15
going to those
00:27:17
events is a requirement to demonstrate
00:27:20
your love and your commitment to your to
00:27:22
your child because there are a whole
00:27:25
bunch of people in in New Zealand that
00:27:28
love their kids uh as much as I love
00:27:31
mine but don't have the flexibility I've
00:27:33
that I've got to be able to make make
00:27:35
those decisions yeah and uh and their
00:27:37
kids as you said are going to be super
00:27:40
fine uh because of it yeah one of the
00:27:43
advantages of getting to the the age
00:27:45
that you and I are at now is you realize
00:27:46
just um how precious time is and how
00:27:48
fast things go so the these moments are
00:27:50
going to be gone in the blink of an eye
00:27:52
like your kids are going to be growing
00:27:53
up before you know it and you're going
00:27:54
to be like where the [ __ ] did the time
00:27:55
go so it's good that you're um you can
00:27:57
be present be in the moment and
00:27:59
recognize that stuff real time my boss
00:28:01
said to me cuz I'm really emotional
00:28:03
about uh Sam uh he's got another year
00:28:06
and then he goes to University or does
00:28:08
whatever he wants to do and um I was
00:28:11
talking to my boss and said man I'm
00:28:13
feeling really emotional about him
00:28:15
potentially moving out of home and she
00:28:18
said that's not the worst part because
00:28:19
if they go to university they get a
00:28:21
whole bunch of holidays and they've got
00:28:23
no money so they're going to come and
00:28:24
see you when they start working uh
00:28:26
they've got a bit of money they get four
00:28:28
weeks off guess how many of those weeks
00:28:30
they want to spend with Mom and Dad none
00:28:32
unless you pay for them so that's was
00:28:35
even more upsetting so I am very
00:28:38
conscious that uh you know you don't you
00:28:41
don't get those uh those moments back
00:28:43
and and um but not just with your uh
00:28:46
with your
00:28:47
kids with uh friends with with your
00:28:50
partner you know um with your mom I
00:28:53
remember uh just last week I I I drove
00:28:57
into the driveway and I just had this
00:29:00
big really strong uh feeling of missing
00:29:04
my grandfather who I would call
00:29:06
periodically and just check in and and
00:29:08
say good day so I all those moments are
00:29:10
kind of a nice reminder that uh they're
00:29:12
important ones not to
00:29:14
miss yeah how long has your granddad
00:29:16
been
00:29:17
gone
00:29:20
oh he would be 20 years now amazing yeah
00:29:24
you just had this feeling out of out of
00:29:26
the B out of the blue yeah it's funny
00:29:28
that but I think I think that's the um
00:29:30
yeah the ultimate tribute to like a
00:29:31
family member that's passed out that 20
00:29:33
years on you know they still hold a
00:29:36
space in your heart I think that's
00:29:37
really cool no I think that's the right
00:29:39
way to look at it right if you uh if you
00:29:41
miss them just so it shows how much you
00:29:43
valued and loved them uh and how much
00:29:45
the impact they had on you when they
00:29:47
were alive 100% what about what about ra
00:29:50
so your wife ra um you've been married
00:29:52
like 20 years yes what's the meat cute
00:29:54
so you met you met in Queenstown yeah so
00:29:57
love it first s it was for me I remember
00:30:01
I remember her uh I actually said this
00:30:03
to her I said remember when we met each
00:30:05
other on the 27th of December and you we
00:30:07
were walking down the kind of Court this
00:30:10
Courtyard or Mall strip and we our eyes
00:30:13
locked and that connection and she's
00:30:16
like what she had no idea she was with a
00:30:20
group of friends girls I was with a
00:30:22
group of friends boys and
00:30:25
um uh I saw her and thought uh my God
00:30:29
and uh she didn't even notice me and
00:30:32
then later that night we ended up being
00:30:35
in the same uh bar and we got there
00:30:39
first uh there was a table not similar
00:30:41
to this there was four of us here there
00:30:43
was nowhere else for the girls to sit
00:30:45
they looked everywhere to go somewhere
00:30:47
else apart from sit with us and then
00:30:49
they came in and then we were like WP
00:30:51
and um uh she was from ockland I was
00:30:54
from Vago uh we were having quite a bit
00:30:56
of ban about the North versus South I
00:30:59
said to her uh can I get you a drink and
00:31:02
she said uh well I'm from Oakland so of
00:31:05
course uh I only drink Ballinger and I
00:31:08
was like okay is it some RTD I didn't
00:31:11
know what Ballinger was so I went to the
00:31:12
bar not knowing that she was joking and
00:31:15
said can I have a Spates and a Ballinger
00:31:17
thank you and he said are you sure we
00:31:19
want a Ballinger and I said yep and he
00:31:22
goes once I open it I can't take it back
00:31:26
and I thought it must be like one of
00:31:28
those $10 rtds and I looked back at Rach
00:31:30
and I was like yeah she's worth the 10
00:31:31
bucks and he came back and I remember
00:31:34
him saying that's $100 and I was like
00:31:39
what do you mean he go I said what' I
00:31:41
just buy he said you just bought the
00:31:42
most expensive bottle in the bar I said
00:31:45
I don't want it take it back he goes
00:31:48
I've opened it so I said have you got
00:31:50
anything by the glass which is your
00:31:52
cheapest and so uh I got poured one
00:31:56
glass of Ballinger one glass of the
00:31:58
cheapest bubbles told this table what
00:32:01
had happened we did a blind taste test
00:32:03
with Rachel and she got it wrong she CH
00:32:06
she chose the cheap one as the expensive
00:32:09
Ballinger in her defense she' never
00:32:11
tasted Ballinger herself at that point
00:32:12
in her life so she had nothing to
00:32:13
Benchmark it against but it's a joke
00:32:15
within our um yeah within our our
00:32:18
friends and family that uh we both got
00:32:20
kind of suck it in that suck it in that
00:32:21
night and the rest is history yeah and
00:32:23
she's um she's phenomenal right she's
00:32:25
like a Harvard educated lawyer is she a
00:32:28
partner in a law firm yeah so and an
00:32:30
author I always say she should be the
00:32:33
one doing these having these
00:32:35
conversations she is so much more
00:32:37
impressive than I am in every facet
00:32:41
she's not she's so she'll hate me for
00:32:43
say this she slightly uncoordinated but
00:32:45
that's her only yes perfect in every
00:32:48
other way so we always joked hopefully
00:32:51
the kids get my coordination and
00:32:52
everything else uh everything else about
00:32:54
her um but yeah she uh she's a lawyer um
00:32:59
she was a partner in at bgal for uh I
00:33:02
think she was the youngest partner or
00:33:04
one of the youngest Partners made up
00:33:06
partner for 10
00:33:07
years and uh but I always wanted to
00:33:10
write and so um with each child um when
00:33:15
she took uh don't say it's time off
00:33:17
because it's not like time off when
00:33:18
you're maternity leave but when she was
00:33:21
wasn't working at work and was working
00:33:23
at home bringing the bringing the kids
00:33:25
up she wrote a screenplay with her
00:33:27
sister
00:33:28
um she wrote a play she wrote A Child a
00:33:30
children's book and so she's always been
00:33:32
quite creative and uh always wanted to
00:33:34
be a writer so when I got the job offer
00:33:37
to go to voone um in London she resigned
00:33:41
from her law firm and that was going to
00:33:43
be the time where she was going to write
00:33:45
um in Europe and then that changed but
00:33:48
she' resigned from her partnership um
00:33:50
and so we stayed in New Zealand but she
00:33:52
started to started to think about
00:33:54
writing but it was
00:33:55
only uh
00:33:58
what would have been kind of 18 months
00:34:00
ago two years ago now that she decided
00:34:02
to commit to it and enrolled herself at
00:34:04
the um uh at ockland University on the
00:34:08
Master's creative writing course and uh
00:34:11
she won the Phoenix prize um a year ago
00:34:14
because the the new Phoenix prize Winer
00:34:15
was uh announced last night and then um
00:34:19
her book got picked up by haset um the
00:34:22
global publisher and it goes on sale in
00:34:25
April and the US the Australian and the
00:34:28
New Zealand Market um next year and also
00:34:33
her book's been picked up by stampede as
00:34:36
a Netflix series so amazing I know
00:34:39
incredible What's um so it's a novel I
00:34:42
joke that it's so she's writing about
00:34:45
all the ways that she's thought about
00:34:47
killing
00:34:48
me so it's a psychological Thriller like
00:34:52
a howto guy it's a psychological
00:34:54
Thriller uh and um I remember
00:34:58
uh we were having a conversation and she
00:34:59
said to me you know I could kill you and
00:35:03
no one would ever find out and I was
00:35:05
like what what have I done so I've
00:35:07
always say publicly if I ever go missing
00:35:10
something happens to me and they go well
00:35:11
that was a surprise look at ra it wasn't
00:35:14
a surprise I've misstepped too many
00:35:16
times and uh I've been I've been taken
00:35:17
out well she won't be able to use
00:35:19
anything that's um that's on the book SL
00:35:21
Netflix series exactly so like I'm
00:35:24
really I'm really proud of her I read a
00:35:26
lot of that genre and and
00:35:29
um uh and I've read uh her script her
00:35:32
her book now probably 30 times and all
00:35:34
its different variations Etc there was
00:35:36
only two days where she didn't talk to
00:35:38
me because of some of the feedback that
00:35:40
I uh I gave her because you know you
00:35:42
think about you're pouring your heart
00:35:43
and soul out on it and I've got a very
00:35:46
limited vocabulary and so when I'm
00:35:49
trying to find words to describe how I
00:35:52
can help make the book better sometimes
00:35:54
I can be a little less sophisticated
00:35:56
than I would like like to be but uh you
00:35:59
need to check jpt have another sentence
00:36:01
for it it's a bit
00:36:03
[ __ ] and so she's done a phenomenal job
00:36:06
and um the book is book is amazing and
00:36:09
uh yeah and uh and she's um it's a two
00:36:12
book deal that she was uh signed up for
00:36:14
so she's about I think 25% through um
00:36:18
her next her next book her next book now
00:36:22
that's incredible yeah wow it's
00:36:23
incredible you and yeah and a and a a
00:36:26
grad from Harvard with the Masters in
00:36:28
law where she graduated first her
00:36:30
dissertation at Harvard was published in
00:36:32
the Wall Street Journal like uh you know
00:36:36
she is she's a super and an amazing mom
00:36:38
great friend like I'm very privileged
00:36:42
[ __ ] you're proud aren't you ah so proud
00:36:45
like seriously and you know and uh but
00:36:48
it's she not everything that she's doing
00:36:50
and the kids are doing she's just uh an
00:36:52
incredible human being she's just a
00:36:55
special person really what say
00:36:58
say
00:37:00
selfless yeah her first thought was
00:37:02
about everyone else before herself not
00:37:04
like that's just you know similar to my
00:37:06
mom actually uh they they say you you
00:37:09
marry someone like your mother yeah yeah
00:37:11
and um uh and her parents are the same
00:37:15
um Liz and jock incredible people um you
00:37:18
know who were amazing parents to her as
00:37:20
well and I think that's the the values
00:37:22
that they installed in all of um all the
00:37:25
kids that they had so uh yeah super
00:37:28
super impressive and her her um uh her
00:37:31
brother's uh got a very successful
00:37:33
career in
00:37:34
finance uh he's got his own fund that uh
00:37:38
he's raised money for and lots of
00:37:39
investors are trusting him in um and
00:37:42
then uh her sister Bridget is the
00:37:44
country manager of zero so um very
00:37:47
successful uh family they're all um High
00:37:50
Achievers but are fantastic people first
00:37:53
yeah and yeah you guys are um Power
00:37:56
couple like both um both big jobs so how
00:37:59
do you yeah what's the um what's the
00:38:01
home calendar like how have you got like
00:38:02
a white board is it a Blackboard is it a
00:38:04
just a like a Google Calendar like how
00:38:06
do you how do you make things work with
00:38:07
your various commitments yeah it's
00:38:09
pretty chaotic I would say both uh ra
00:38:12
and I would say that the thing um that
00:38:14
we sacrifice the most uh is our own
00:38:18
relationship even though it's super
00:38:21
strong and full of love uh and also our
00:38:25
uh prioritizing ourselves so so I'd
00:38:28
definitely like to go to the gym a
00:38:31
little bit more or um you know spend
00:38:34
more me time but um we prioritize our
00:38:38
kids um our work our friends our family
00:38:44
and then we'll kind of get to us and uh
00:38:48
and ourselves when we can and often you
00:38:51
you never get to them I I think that's
00:38:53
the same for a lot of people uh so I'm
00:38:56
not saying that we're unusual in in any
00:38:58
way but it's something we talk about
00:39:00
because you know when the kids leave
00:39:03
home uh we don't want to look at each
00:39:05
other and go who the hell are you that
00:39:08
happens a lot yeah and so that's
00:39:10
something you got to actively work out
00:39:11
right you want to make sure that you
00:39:14
continue to fall in love with each other
00:39:17
as you change inevitably from when you
00:39:19
when you first when you first met so um
00:39:22
we do and uh and so I think that it's
00:39:25
healthy to kind of talk about that and
00:39:27
and make and make that time for the
00:39:28
relationship what what are your big
00:39:31
arguments about is it kid related
00:39:33
or you you she's a lawyer you wouldn't
00:39:36
want to argue with her right you're I
00:39:38
yeah no though you know you're on a
00:39:40
hiding to nothing yeah I'm just yes yes
00:39:44
dear and uh yeah so like seriously we
00:39:48
don't we don't have massive big
00:39:50
arguments I think probably the the the
00:39:53
biggest challenges that that we have um
00:39:56
is how do you
00:39:58
ensure
00:40:00
um it's probably more about actually the
00:40:04
the challenges of uh of kind of just
00:40:06
life and chaos and and busyness and
00:40:09
communication more than anything else I
00:40:10
can be a bit useless and not telling her
00:40:12
what's happening when it's uh when it's
00:40:14
busy and that's probably the biggest
00:40:16
thing bro I'm I'm exactly the same you
00:40:19
know um you know when your kids in
00:40:21
particular boys get home from school and
00:40:22
it's hard to get more than a grunt or a
00:40:24
one or two we answer out of them I'm the
00:40:26
same in relationships like if I'm busy
00:40:27
with other stuff it's the communication
00:40:29
the first thing that lapses for me and I
00:40:30
know it's I know it's a work on yeah
00:40:32
it's hard though he it is yeah and also
00:40:35
I'm sure I've told her something and I
00:40:37
and I haven't so that's the that's the
00:40:39
biggest issue and it was in my head I
00:40:41
just didn't uh I just didn't say it you
00:40:43
need to push harder gas lier I
00:40:45
definitely told you this I definitely
00:40:47
told you no she's got a uh yeah she's
00:40:49
got a memory yeah well that's great so
00:40:51
so um yes so your son's 17 now yeah so
00:40:55
uh Sam's 17 uh ockland grandar
00:40:57
um great kid uh Will's 13 again
00:41:01
fantastic kid he's in um in third form
00:41:05
Auckland grammar and then uh our
00:41:07
daughter in year six going into year
00:41:08
seven bum bum bum you know so they
00:41:11
they're growing up growing up fast but
00:41:14
um yeah uh really I'm really really
00:41:16
proud of them good manners good values
00:41:20
uh and all we say to them is be the best
00:41:22
you can be all I care about is the
00:41:24
effort effort Mark the outcome will be
00:41:27
what it will be and they'll find what
00:41:29
they love at some point in time and who
00:41:32
knew what they wanted to be or very few
00:41:34
people at 17 or 13 or or 11 I just want
00:41:36
them to try lots of things and be good
00:41:38
people and open doors and have good
00:41:40
manners and and uh and give it their
00:41:43
best and and uh and if they do that I'm
00:41:45
sure it'll work out fine yeah that's
00:41:47
bloody great oh well done that's cool
00:41:50
you've got a few more years before
00:41:51
you're in empty Nea yeah we we have yeah
00:41:54
I thought it'd be exciting having one of
00:41:55
your kids leave home especially if
00:41:56
there's a couple of back UPS no I'm
00:41:58
going to be be emal I'm going to be a
00:42:01
mess it will
00:42:02
be horrific yeah really why oh I just
00:42:06
love them so much and I just seriously
00:42:09
uh I just I and I when Sam uh turned
00:42:14
17 uh I told him a story uh of when he
00:42:17
was born the day he was born I don't
00:42:20
know but I got a cab right back from the
00:42:22
um hospital and uh the cab driver could
00:42:25
see that I was really chuffed and uh he
00:42:28
said what are you smiling about and I
00:42:29
said I've had my first son first child
00:42:31
and he's a boy and he said oh funnily
00:42:33
enough it's my son's birthday this
00:42:35
weekend and he's 21 and he said can I
00:42:37
just tell you it gets better and better
00:42:39
and better and I said to Sam it does
00:42:42
like I didn't want you to grow up when
00:42:43
you were three and when you were seven
00:42:45
and when you were 10 and when I when you
00:42:46
were 13 I was like nothing's going to be
00:42:49
better than this but it does and so just
00:42:53
so proud of having my relationship with
00:42:55
him and the kids it's amazing special
00:42:57
yeah you haven't obviously gone through
00:42:59
the mount difficulty phase yet of the
00:43:01
there's got that's got to come no yeah
00:43:03
like not all like you know of course
00:43:05
they always misstep and they do naughty
00:43:07
things and I've pushing boundaries
00:43:09
pushing boundaries or I've found them
00:43:11
they you know snuck out the bedroom
00:43:13
window to see their friends and vaping
00:43:15
the school bag all that none of them are
00:43:17
Vaped really well done yeah I used to
00:43:19
work for smoke free way back uh when I
00:43:22
was when I was at school kind of
00:43:23
advocating uh my grandma um she passed
00:43:26
away of um emia Emma whatever it is and
00:43:30
um so I've uh yeah but so uh I've kind
00:43:33
of installed that installed that into
00:43:35
them uh the probably biggest issue is um
00:43:38
addiction to devices which you know as
00:43:40
being in the industry I'm in um it's a
00:43:43
it's a challenge I'm trying to navigate
00:43:44
through at home as as well as for the
00:43:46
industry oh it's it's tough like um I
00:43:50
I've stopped looking at my screen time
00:43:51
my weekly screen time because it's
00:43:53
alarming it is and you can justify so
00:43:55
much of it as um working like I'm
00:43:56
working it's a it's a work tool but no a
00:43:59
lot of it is a lot of it is Mindless
00:44:00
scrolling no yeah I find that myself you
00:44:03
know I I'm going okay I'll just uh you
00:44:05
know I just wind down and look at a
00:44:08
couple things on Instagram and it's 9:45
00:44:10
and then all of a sudden it's 11:00 what
00:44:13
I just lost an hour looking at funny pet
00:44:18
videos and like what the hell where did
00:44:21
that where did that go and you can see
00:44:23
you know hopefully my brain is a bit
00:44:24
more developed than a 13-year-old or a
00:44:26
17-year-old but yeah you can see uh that
00:44:30
you know they are developed to keep you
00:44:33
addtive yeah I heard a podcast that's
00:44:36
saying it's um sort of yeah the screen
00:44:38
and the way it looks and feels and
00:44:39
sounds is based on like slot machines
00:44:42
yes yes um yeah yeah but and the the Met
00:44:44
algorithms are so good like I get see so
00:44:46
many videos of dogs that look like
00:44:49
mine an hour is nothing mate I know I it
00:44:52
feels like it's always listening to you
00:44:54
as well right like and I just like all
00:44:56
of a sudden you know um uh I turned 50
00:45:00
and I'm getting uh you know gut health
00:45:05
bloating 50y old ads on social media and
00:45:09
I'm like are you trying to tell me
00:45:11
something here you know whatever it is
00:45:12
so magnesium supplements for me yeah
00:45:15
yeah ex it's good though it's helpful it
00:45:17
um hey let's talk about your the career
00:45:18
stuff so um so you left school you went
00:45:22
to University for 3 months so what
00:45:24
happened there so I applied for teacher
00:45:27
in college and uh got rejected and then
00:45:31
um coming back from a South and rugby
00:45:33
trip uh and then went to um Trust Bank
00:45:38
Southland and but
00:45:41
I always thought that I would want to go
00:45:43
to university because I had a a view in
00:45:46
my head that um if you wanted to get a
00:45:50
big job um whatever the industry was and
00:45:53
I wasn't too sure that you needed to
00:45:54
have a a degree and so was basically
00:45:57
saving money up to uh not take up to
00:46:02
take on too much debt when to go to go
00:46:03
to university and I my best mate is um
00:46:08
uh was actually a year younger uh than
00:46:11
me and and then my other best mate was
00:46:13
two years uh two years younger than me
00:46:16
and so we were uh thinking about all
00:46:18
going together and so uh we all worked
00:46:23
um for a period of time in inago before
00:46:25
we went to kind of University in the
00:46:27
same in the same year uh I was
00:46:32
um the year before I went to University
00:46:35
I took a job that was paying more than
00:46:37
the bank in radio sales so I uh started
00:46:41
being a radio sales sales guy and um
00:46:44
then left to go to university and then 3
00:46:47
months after uh I was at University the
00:46:51
radio station manager turned up at my
00:46:53
flat and said hey um we've missed you
00:46:57
uh will double your salary and if you
00:47:00
come back so um I called I was doing a
00:47:03
double major in marketing and
00:47:05
information science back then like
00:47:07
technology and I remember I called the
00:47:09
careers advisor um at the ataga
00:47:12
University and I said hey look I've just
00:47:14
got this job offer but I'm really
00:47:17
enjoying this information science thing
00:47:19
and I remember she said to me there's no
00:47:20
money in Tech take the job so uh I took
00:47:24
the job and the rest is history and that
00:47:26
kind of
00:47:27
that that created uh I suppose my set me
00:47:32
on my career of kind of sales and
00:47:33
marketing so people come through the
00:47:36
ranks you know and finance or operations
00:47:40
um uh my my my background is in has been
00:47:44
in sales and marketing so I just
00:47:45
progressively moved from
00:47:48
inago uh to Wellington uh and then to uh
00:47:52
Auckland after I met my uh after I met
00:47:54
ra and uh have been kind of a sales and
00:47:57
marketing background ever since yeah and
00:47:59
I suppose once you get that um that
00:48:00
opportunity and you start getting a bit
00:48:02
of career momentum like the degree thing
00:48:04
becomes less less important but like if
00:48:06
you look at jobs now on say SE or zel or
00:48:08
whatever like most of them say you know
00:48:10
the you entry level requirement is a as
00:48:13
a degree and whatever it happens to be
00:48:15
so how did you get like the um marketing
00:48:17
manager job at McDonald's without a
00:48:18
degree uh I just applied for it yeah
00:48:21
they didn't they didn't ask they just
00:48:22
assumed no so it wasn't a requirement to
00:48:25
be honest and um my boss now uh well my
00:48:28
boss back then and suu's another good
00:48:30
mate good mate of mine and kind of uh I
00:48:35
I my viewers once you get the interview
00:48:37
once you get the foot on the
00:48:38
door
00:48:41
um the qualifications don't necessarily
00:48:44
really really matter um in my view
00:48:46
unless you're a doctor you know you got
00:48:48
something who's A's a who's a specialist
00:48:50
this guy's got a good attitude do my
00:48:52
brain operation but uh when you're
00:48:54
coming through the ranks and sales of
00:48:55
marketing and he just took a he could
00:48:57
took a chance on me a crack and that was
00:48:59
my kind of first Big Marketing role was
00:49:02
um wasn't McDonald's up until then um uh
00:49:06
I was kind of a sales and marketer and
00:49:08
um and so yeah he uh he took my he took
00:49:11
his first big first big punt and
00:49:15
then it started it wasn't really
00:49:18
McDonald's role but the Nokia role the
00:49:22
tvnz role the media media Works role the
00:49:26
Telecom
00:49:28
role uh even um possibly the uh the
00:49:33
vhone
00:49:34
role having a degree never came up I
00:49:38
think people probably just
00:49:40
assumed um or it gets to the point where
00:49:42
you've got so much experience it just
00:49:44
doesn't matter doesn't matter but the I
00:49:46
did have a chip on my shoulder about it
00:49:48
uh and when I was at tvnz my boss Rick
00:49:52
Alis I talked to him about it openly and
00:49:55
um
00:49:57
he said [ __ ] I didn't know that you
00:50:00
didn't have a degree and he said I never
00:50:02
would have thought um you know you're
00:50:05
smart you're articulate you can you know
00:50:07
you're structured in the way that you
00:50:09
think and and uh and right but that was
00:50:12
created basically on four years of work
00:50:15
experience While others had four years
00:50:16
of structured structured learning and so
00:50:19
as we just said before like R and I are
00:50:22
the complete opposite ends of the
00:50:23
education Spectrum masters from Harvard
00:50:27
no University degree so uh tvnz and Rick
00:50:31
funded me to do a business course at at
00:50:34
Harvard I think it was in
00:50:36
2008 and um I went across there and
00:50:40
there were people from all around the
00:50:42
world and within 24 hours I was like I'm
00:50:48
as good as them like I can have
00:50:50
conversations about the case studies I
00:50:52
can get the uh the concepts of the
00:50:55
models I can uh debate uh with them I
00:50:59
can
00:51:00
ideate and that was a it was a really
00:51:03
big um psychological moment for me in my
00:51:07
career where I
00:51:10
realized um that I didn't have that I
00:51:13
wasn't smart you know I didn't have an
00:51:15
issue with not being smart enough to be
00:51:18
able to um you know be the CEO of a of
00:51:22
of an organ of an organization and
00:51:24
so uh it was probably an impediment or a
00:51:28
hurdle that I was putting on myself
00:51:29
versus others were putting on me at that
00:51:32
at that point in time and um I never
00:51:35
never really never really came up from
00:51:36
that from that point because as you said
00:51:38
your experience your track record New
00:51:40
Zealand's a village people know what
00:51:43
you're doing good or bad every day um
00:51:47
and if your track record is is good and
00:51:49
and you're doing what you said you do
00:51:50
and you're showing up well then then
00:51:52
opportunities open up for you yeah 100%
00:51:55
um yeah do you think are you familiar
00:51:57
with impostor syndrome yes yeah do you
00:51:59
feel like um you were sort of
00:52:01
experiencing that when you went to see
00:52:02
Rick Ellis oh absolutely is there a
00:52:04
degree of that and I think it's still
00:52:06
there's still a degree of that in me now
00:52:09
I'm still waiting for yeah I still
00:52:12
seriously I I would
00:52:14
say uh at least every month if not every
00:52:17
week I go how the hell did someone like
00:52:21
me get here like it's just bizarre I'm
00:52:24
waiting for someone to tap me on the
00:52:26
shoulder and go how the hell did you get
00:52:27
here and I'll go I know I know yeah you
00:52:30
game's up uh you got me you got me uh I
00:52:34
I just
00:52:35
genuinely uh cannot believe how lucky I
00:52:38
am that uh and that's every job like you
00:52:42
know I said an giving me the crack at
00:52:44
McDonald's Murray giving me the crack at
00:52:47
uh Trust Bank
00:52:48
Southland um the radio station manager
00:52:52
picking meic out of uh out of
00:52:55
University um Alis uh just you know
00:52:58
grabbing me out of London and then
00:53:00
sending me to
00:53:01
Harvard um Simon Musa uh giving me the
00:53:05
opportunity to do the Telecom to Spark
00:53:08
Run two-thirds of their of their of
00:53:10
their business like it's just it's
00:53:12
absolutely incredible uh that these
00:53:14
people have yeah um given me the given
00:53:18
me the opportunities that uh that they
00:53:20
have and you don't want to let them
00:53:23
down uh yeah and I've you know that I
00:53:26
think I've got the impostor syndrome as
00:53:27
a dead you know never going to be good
00:53:29
enough I've got the impostor syndrome as
00:53:32
um um as part of the team as well that
00:53:34
never going to be good enough and that
00:53:36
drives
00:53:37
me I think it's quite um it shouldn't be
00:53:39
but I think it's quite Brave or
00:53:41
courageous of you to to admit that
00:53:43
because um you imposter syndrome or yeah
00:53:45
yeah well I mean I feel like there's a
00:53:48
degree of um you know you're supposed to
00:53:50
have people fake it till you make it um
00:53:54
you know um but I think I think most of
00:53:56
us
00:53:57
I've had heaps of ORS on the podcast and
00:53:58
they all admit the same thing like the
00:53:59
first day they turned up you know so
00:54:01
they'll have a killer super season or
00:54:02
whatever and then turn up to the or
00:54:03
training they be like [ __ ] I don't
00:54:04
belong here um I think it's it's really
00:54:07
refreshing to admit that yeah especially
00:54:09
six years under the desk that's that's
00:54:11
true you know uh and and hopefully you
00:54:13
can use it as a driver um
00:54:17
versus uh yeah versus feeling
00:54:21
uncertain so
00:54:24
uh yeah but it's it's there it's there
00:54:26
every day I just I just go how the hell
00:54:29
did this happen uh and how do I uh you
00:54:33
know work hard enough to make sure that
00:54:35
the music doesn't stop is that
00:54:38
exhausting uh yeah like the CEO roles
00:54:41
are oh actually any industry like
00:54:44
they're tiring they're 20 247 and and
00:54:47
I've purposefully decided that my role
00:54:50
as a CEO is a 247 role because I want to
00:54:53
be as accessible to as many people as
00:54:55
possible on every social media platform
00:54:58
too you know I every conversation I have
00:55:02
with anyone I always give them out my
00:55:04
personal email address and I tell them
00:55:06
that I'm your personal account manager
00:55:08
and I'm your personal account manager
00:55:09
too Dom and um uh
00:55:13
because uh I want them to know that I
00:55:16
take the role that we play in their
00:55:17
lives really really seriously one two
00:55:20
it's the best way for me to know what's
00:55:22
happening in the business good and bad
00:55:24
um and uh and three I think it's my job
00:55:28
like everyone in the organization should
00:55:29
be the the best sales and service person
00:55:31
that they that they can be but that
00:55:33
means you know Friday nights Saturdays
00:55:37
Sundays I'll be checking my phone
00:55:39
because if I get an email it means the
00:55:40
shit's at the fan a customer has a
00:55:43
massive issue in their business or in
00:55:44
their life for them at that point in
00:55:47
time and um they've tried as much as
00:55:49
they possibly can and and they haven't
00:55:51
got what they needed to and so I I'm in
00:55:53
a position to be able to help yeah
00:55:55
you're you're very active on LinkedIn
00:55:56
and I've seen um like a couple of
00:55:58
comments where there's been you've put
00:56:00
up a post about something completely
00:56:02
unrelated and someone will write a
00:56:03
comment bitching about some data r or
00:56:05
whatever it happens to be and then
00:56:07
you'll respond with your email address
00:56:08
so how does your email work does it get
00:56:10
directed to a PA and then they goes
00:56:13
directly to me so I read every single
00:56:16
apart from for one holiday um I'll read
00:56:19
every single email that uh that comes
00:56:21
through I'll respond to every single
00:56:24
email personally but then
00:56:26
uh I have a team of about four or five
00:56:29
people they don't just support me they
00:56:31
triage the most gnarly uh issues that
00:56:34
come through the business uh some of
00:56:36
which come to me and then they will
00:56:38
account manage them in to make sure that
00:56:39
they get they get fixed because New
00:56:41
Zealand is a good good people um and if
00:56:44
when that gets to me we've normally you
00:56:47
know pissed them off to a point where
00:56:48
the it's the last straw and they go you
00:56:51
need to know what's happening in your
00:56:53
organization so uh I'll send uh three
00:56:56
emails out to our customer base a year I
00:56:59
have done that since I started uh I used
00:57:03
to get about a thousand emails back I'd
00:57:06
read all of them um within 24 hours
00:57:09
respond within 48 hours and then this
00:57:12
team would help fix them and um and
00:57:15
address them that that email volume's at
00:57:19
least halved now so um I always put my
00:57:22
personal email address at the bottom
00:57:23
always say if you got anything that I
00:57:25
can help with let me know uh so I'll
00:57:28
probably get 500 emails I would say half
00:57:30
of them are now compliments they would
00:57:32
go you know what you're doing a much
00:57:34
better job than you were well done uh
00:57:37
and then the other half uh actually
00:57:38
you're still doing a pretty shitty job I
00:57:40
need you to fix need you to fix this er
00:57:43
um but again you know it's a it's a it's
00:57:45
a calculated investment because I know
00:57:49
I've talked to thousands of our
00:57:51
customers over a year and so I know
00:57:55
pretty well what is going on in our
00:57:57
business and where we're up to scratch
00:57:59
and where and where we're not and what
00:58:01
we need to focus on and uh and do so
00:58:04
it's a it's a it's an investment that um
00:58:06
that is a really smart one because it's
00:58:08
the only way that you know what's really
00:58:10
happening in your business is by talking
00:58:11
to as many customers as you as you can
00:58:13
yeah and that's a very um conscious and
00:58:15
deliberate decision I guess to be a
00:58:17
visible CEO yeah um where did that stem
00:58:21
from did you get the idea from anyone
00:58:22
else or the inspiration or is this just
00:58:23
you as a person no it's just me like you
00:58:25
know just uh um I like people get my
00:58:27
energy from
00:58:29
them uh I like yeah you know I like uh
00:58:34
hearing from our customers it helps us
00:58:36
make decisions helps me drive change
00:58:38
through the
00:58:40
organization uh I feel like if I uh if I
00:58:44
engage and I can acknowledge and say
00:58:47
sorry if a customer and there are very
00:58:50
few of them now that's a dick I can call
00:58:52
them out too and go you know what
00:58:54
disagree with that I think you're being
00:58:57
unfair when you have a crack at a team
00:58:58
member or where you're criticizing Us in
00:59:00
this in this way I can only to be honest
00:59:03
I can only think of a handful of times
00:59:04
where I've had to do that and stick up
00:59:06
stick up for my team but I think um you
00:59:09
know by being visible and uh and
00:59:11
apologizing and getting things sorted
00:59:14
also gives you permission to draw a line
00:59:16
on the sand and go well no hold on a
00:59:17
minute don't agree with that don't agree
00:59:19
with your post your posture or your
00:59:21
position or your criticism of us and and
00:59:23
sorry but uh you know we won't be moving
00:59:25
forward on that one so that's fine too
00:59:28
yeah well a lot a lot of time people
00:59:29
just want to be heard don't they they do
00:59:31
yeah yeah but um I know good for doing
00:59:34
that oh there was a thing on L you
00:59:35
LinkedIn a couple of weeks ago as well
00:59:36
about you um U making a very public
00:59:39
stand um what happened you banned banned
00:59:41
a couple of customers from one of your
00:59:42
stores what happened there yeah so this
00:59:44
has been a problem that's been growing
00:59:46
in retail for uh all Industries for
00:59:50
quite some time so you know everyone
00:59:52
will be familiar with the smash and
00:59:54
grabs that Michael jewers you know the
00:59:57
ram raids and that kind of stuff
01:00:00
and uh man that's a terrifying horrific
01:00:05
experience and can I as I said on
01:00:08
LinkedIn a few a few weeks ago these
01:00:12
are grandmothers grandfathers uncles
01:00:15
aunties moms dads Sons daughters cousins
01:00:20
Friends new zealanders just like you or
01:00:23
me trying to do a job to help people
01:00:26
that do not need to put up with that
01:00:29
type of crap right um now we're lucky
01:00:33
that the ram raids that have impacted
01:00:34
our retail stores have been at night um
01:00:37
people come in what they don't know is
01:00:40
that all of our devices are are safe
01:00:41
they can't get to and they think that
01:00:42
the devices that are in our retail
01:00:44
stores will work they're not they're
01:00:46
dummy devices right you can use them but
01:00:48
you disconnect them they're dummy
01:00:50
devices you can't put a SIM card into
01:00:52
them you can't use them um so when they
01:00:55
do Ram raid they don't there's nothing
01:00:56
of value that they that they take but in
01:00:59
this instance um you know Society is
01:01:02
getting more problematic we've got
01:01:04
people coming into our retail stores
01:01:06
trying to intimidate being aggressive
01:01:08
swearing now I know they're stressed
01:01:11
it's tough Economic Times we've come
01:01:13
through Co come through a
01:01:15
recession all that kind of stuff but
01:01:17
it's just um but everyone's dealing with
01:01:20
issues in their life and you can't take
01:01:23
it out on our on our people and so um um
01:01:26
this was an instance where someone was
01:01:28
changing uh over a phone and they had
01:01:32
forgotten their Apple ID it's not our
01:01:34
job to change over their phone for them
01:01:37
but our our um uh our salesperson was
01:01:41
doing them a favor by trying to help
01:01:43
them migrate all their photos and data
01:01:45
but you need your Apple ID to be able to
01:01:48
make it happen and they'd forgotten it
01:01:50
and it wasn't working and so they lost
01:01:52
it and was punching them and beating
01:01:55
them up and then someone else came in
01:01:57
and they took a swing at them and then
01:01:58
they were abusing people and Etc and um
01:02:03
and one of them had to go to hospital
01:02:05
and just I was just pissed off I was
01:02:07
like this is not good enough it's
01:02:09
unacceptable and so we've just we've
01:02:11
kicked them off the network and they'll
01:02:12
never be allowed back and um that's a
01:02:16
big move right that we'd take in very
01:02:19
rare instances but I'm sorry if uh if
01:02:22
that's what you're going to do then we
01:02:24
don't want you part of our um part of
01:02:26
the
01:02:27
team so uh yeah so they will never be a
01:02:31
one New Zealand customer uh ever ever
01:02:34
again and um they can find another TCO
01:02:36
to uh to connect with yeah to me that
01:02:39
doesn't that doesn't feel like a huge
01:02:40
move like that's outrageous behavior
01:02:43
like it's incredibly poor form like how
01:02:45
how traumatic for the staff members
01:02:47
involved oh massively and and actually I
01:02:49
think you know we when we're supporting
01:02:51
them and I I talked to them on the day
01:02:53
and then um the week after uh but you
01:02:56
just don't know how you're going to feel
01:02:57
and uh and and then they came back into
01:03:00
store and of course they're feeling it
01:03:01
apprehensive because no one expect
01:03:04
someone to take a swing at you or try to
01:03:06
beat the [ __ ] out of you when you're
01:03:07
trying to help them no and that happened
01:03:09
and and uh it was UN like it was they
01:03:12
didn't couldn't predict that this person
01:03:14
was clearly like up until that point was
01:03:16
getting agitated and frustrated but
01:03:18
frustrated about the device not of them
01:03:20
and then lost it uh and so who's next
01:03:23
they'll be they'll be thinking so you
01:03:25
know
01:03:26
um it is it is rare but uh yeah I just
01:03:30
wanted to draw a line on the sand and
01:03:31
say it's unacceptable and and this type
01:03:34
of behavior ever increases over
01:03:35
Christmas which is why I did it I you
01:03:37
know s timely reminder now as people get
01:03:40
stressed uh over that kind of busy
01:03:42
Christmas or New Year period just
01:03:43
remember that everyone's just trying to
01:03:45
do a job they're trying to navigate
01:03:46
through life they're trying to help you
01:03:48
and support you and they don't deserve
01:03:51
um you know you taking your anger out on
01:03:52
them yeah good on you yeah um and why
01:03:55
the brand the Rebrand from um vone to
01:03:58
one NZ yeah a bunch of reasons um first
01:04:01
one is uh it's a brand that we didn't
01:04:04
own voter phone and we were paying tens
01:04:07
of millions of dollars overseas for and
01:04:09
that money is better re being reinvested
01:04:12
back into into New Zealand um majority
01:04:15
of that money is been reinvested into
01:04:17
SpaceX into our partnership with them
01:04:19
and that'll be a GameChanger you know um
01:04:22
getting your uh backup connectivity from
01:04:24
space uh instead of on the ground in in
01:04:27
New Zealand so that's one uh two uh look
01:04:32
the the V phone brand in New Zealand
01:04:35
started off with a HS and a roar it was
01:04:37
the leader in mobility and then when I
01:04:40
started six years ago man I get used to
01:04:42
get a lot of crap at barbecues people
01:04:44
would go your service isn't great I've
01:04:47
had a really shitty experience I
01:04:48
couldn't recommend you and new
01:04:49
zealanders have got long memories and so
01:04:53
over the next kind of three or four
01:04:54
years so told two years ago we'd
01:04:57
invested so much in our Network and our
01:04:59
and you know the best network in the
01:05:00
country our service we'd back ourselves
01:05:03
to have the best service results in the
01:05:04
country people have long memories um but
01:05:08
I remembered from the spark Telecom to
01:05:10
spark change new zealanders will give
01:05:12
you another chance especially if you do
01:05:14
a bit of a Rebrand they'll go oh maybe
01:05:17
something is different there and so the
01:05:19
Rebrand was also a reconsideration
01:05:20
moment so people to go give us another
01:05:24
give us another try and so uh we did a a
01:05:27
Rebrand to have a bit of a refresh there
01:05:29
and then the third thing is we felt that
01:05:32
in terms of a
01:05:34
position uh we felt that there was a an
01:05:37
opportunity for a New Zealand Talco to
01:05:39
stand more for this country and more for
01:05:42
New Zealand than any other so um like
01:05:45
two degrees is trying to stand for Price
01:05:48
spark I think was standing for kind of
01:05:50
Partnerships like Spotify and we wanted
01:05:53
to stand for the best of New Zealand and
01:05:54
we felt that there was a kind of a a
01:05:56
brand positioning so saving money that
01:05:58
can be re reinvested a reconsideration
01:06:02
moment so convince people to give us a
01:06:04
second go um and then that and then that
01:06:07
positioning so those were the three
01:06:08
three big reasons and thankfully uh the
01:06:12
team did a much better job of my telecom
01:06:15
to spark uh project and and and all
01:06:19
three of them have paid off not that the
01:06:20
Telecom to spark one didn't yeah I was
01:06:21
going to say that was that was fine
01:06:23
wasn't it yeah it was good just it takes
01:06:24
a while for these names wash out there
01:06:26
but eventually you just forget about it
01:06:27
and look ultimately you're right it's
01:06:29
not the name it's the actions so as long
01:06:32
as you don't completely screw up the
01:06:35
name Choice it's really the actions that
01:06:37
you take what other names were on the
01:06:39
short list well my favorite uh the one
01:06:42
that I was advocating for they that they
01:06:44
dismissed I I really liked
01:06:47
Spirit but uh it got dismissed because
01:06:49
Spirit of New Zealand uh the boat you
01:06:52
know and a good M of mine Bruce runs
01:06:53
that and I would have had a had a
01:06:54
conversation and go hey thought about
01:06:56
doing a partnership with a with a TCO
01:06:59
um yeah and so there were five names um
01:07:03
I can't remember the others and uh and
01:07:05
that was the one that the team went with
01:07:07
and then it just it just
01:07:08
goes as I said it's really not the name
01:07:11
it's is your network good is your
01:07:13
service good is your pricing good have
01:07:16
you got good people have you got good
01:07:17
Partnerships uh and if you nail those
01:07:19
things that's more important than the
01:07:21
name yeah and and names names of um
01:07:23
Brands always sound weird in the
01:07:24
beginning uh um yeah I remember I was at
01:07:27
media WIS when um uh Mark Weldon who was
01:07:29
the CEO turned the news into newshub
01:07:32
yeah and everyone was like newshub what
01:07:33
looks like PornHub what is it but after
01:07:35
a while it just becomes a a thing yeah
01:07:37
you guys did I think a good job with
01:07:38
this um or your team didn't and they got
01:07:40
you involved with it um a Tik Tok where
01:07:43
you're reading out messages um just
01:07:45
basically people sh [ __ ] yeah me
01:07:47
tweets [ __ ] on the name Ki kiwis
01:07:49
love that self-deprecating sort of humor
01:07:50
eh yeah there was an embarrassing like
01:07:53
my my kids were like oh my d Ed you're
01:07:56
so cringe you know um cuz I think uh
01:08:01
they one of them was something about
01:08:04
420 and they were like and they were
01:08:06
pissed themselves cuz I didn't realize
01:08:08
that 420 was the name for a drug
01:08:10
whatever it is and so yeah so there was
01:08:12
lots of things that not only uh were
01:08:15
funny because people were taking the
01:08:17
piss about the name but it also funny
01:08:19
because uh it showed my naivity in a
01:08:21
whole bunch of areas and well you
01:08:23
mentioned um the um SpaceX thing before
01:08:25
is that that that's the same as the um
01:08:27
the Starling thing yeah so how did that
01:08:29
come about uh by the way as as a trail
01:08:31
Runner this is so exciting yeah you know
01:08:33
it is so uh we've been working with um
01:08:36
with starlink Broadband for quite some
01:08:39
time so and it already came into its own
01:08:43
off the back of cyclone Gabriel because
01:08:46
we could uh when power was out um when
01:08:51
fiber was out we could deploy the
01:08:54
starlink Broadband satellite dishes we
01:08:58
did it for the New Zealand Defense Force
01:08:59
we did it for the airports where we
01:09:01
could get Wi-Fi connectivity connected
01:09:03
to a
01:09:05
generator because when you lose
01:09:07
connectivity it's your Lifeline you
01:09:10
can't tell people that you need help you
01:09:11
can't tell people that you're safe you
01:09:13
can't tell them where you are and you
01:09:17
massive anxiety for people that love you
01:09:20
and also the people that you love and so
01:09:24
uh I talked to the team about um
01:09:28
spacex's starlink to mobile service and
01:09:32
so uh how was that progressing and we'
01:09:35
had a conversation with them but the
01:09:37
price that they had quoted us
01:09:41
was massive way like so expensive there
01:09:44
was no way that we could afford it and
01:09:47
so I decided that I'd like to have a
01:09:49
cracket convincing them that they should
01:09:51
give us a better deal and so we
01:09:54
basically did a pitch to them and said
01:09:56
look 60 million sheep 5 million people
01:10:00
uh it's the same population as Alabama
01:10:02
and the US um you know we're a rugged
01:10:06
country of explorers we're a perfect
01:10:09
test case for this technology we're fast
01:10:12
adopters of Technology we've got a
01:10:15
partnership with you on starlink
01:10:18
broadband uh we've just had a massive
01:10:21
Cyclone uh that's devastated parts of
01:10:23
the country we had floods in a major
01:10:26
city this is going to be a life Cher um
01:10:29
40% of um Altera doesn't have coverage
01:10:34
uh we love
01:10:36
fishing you know uh we'd love to partner
01:10:39
with you we're really bloody easy um and
01:10:43
so we pitched them and uh and they said
01:10:46
yes and so we signed the deal uh
01:10:51
and it happen so quickly actually that
01:10:54
um it was only about a month before we
01:10:58
were changing from voone to one and so
01:11:02
the team decided to make it as part of
01:11:04
the kind of launch day at the at the
01:11:06
kind of last last minute and um uh yeah
01:11:10
we announced at the same time as a good
01:11:12
example of the money that we were saving
01:11:15
by rebranding being invested back into
01:11:17
into New Zealand and you know you asked
01:11:19
me
01:11:20
before about proud moments in my career
01:11:24
this is probably going to
01:11:26
be up there if not the number one just
01:11:30
because if we can help save one life
01:11:33
through this technology it'll be uh
01:11:35
it'll be worth it and um it's amazing
01:11:39
you know uh we're doing all the all the
01:11:41
testing now but uh you have a a a
01:11:45
smartphone compatible smartphone in your
01:11:48
pocket uh and what compatible means is
01:11:50
while we doing all the
01:11:52
testing um and you're you can see the
01:11:54
sky
01:11:56
uh then you'll be able to uh get a
01:12:00
connection with the satellite traveling
01:12:03
500 km above you in
01:12:06
space uh traveling at 27,000 km an hour
01:12:11
and sequence and a constellation with
01:12:13
others first by text um and that's when
01:12:17
we have about 300 satellites up that uh
01:12:20
you'll be able to do text service we
01:12:22
need over a thousand before you can do
01:12:24
voice service
01:12:25
and then no matter where you are in New
01:12:28
Zealand you'll have coverage because of
01:12:32
satellites and the uh in space as long
01:12:35
as you can see the see the sky and you
01:12:38
have a compatible uh smart smartphone
01:12:40
it's insane it's an absolute Game
01:12:42
Changer right oh no it's it is it's um
01:12:45
it's going to be it's going to be
01:12:46
amazing and so we uh we're doing all the
01:12:48
testing at the moment across uh all
01:12:50
parts of New Zealand load testing
01:12:53
customer experience testing device
01:12:55
testing location testing so it's working
01:12:59
uh when you see the sky it's working in
01:13:01
buildings when you're close to Windows
01:13:04
but we you know just like any um any
01:13:07
coverage that you've got uh in an
01:13:09
elevator you don't get coverage uh in a
01:13:12
mine you don't get coverage underwater
01:13:14
you don't get coverage um and we just
01:13:16
need to see where this um the satellite
01:13:19
coverage will uh will reach so yeah it's
01:13:21
cool so while the negotiations were
01:13:23
going on were you were you worried that
01:13:25
conversations were going on with your
01:13:27
opposition or anything like that or yeah
01:13:29
like you never know um and that's why
01:13:32
you have to move
01:13:33
fast uh and I think that's one of the
01:13:37
advantages that uh we we do have um is
01:13:42
that we'll move quickly that we're easy
01:13:44
to partner
01:13:45
with um that we had you know a lot of
01:13:48
ambition in terms
01:13:50
of what this could do for the country
01:13:52
and how we could be a test case for them
01:13:54
for the world
01:13:56
um and then we signed up to a period of
01:14:00
exclusivity uh with them as well to make
01:14:02
sure that um you know we could we could
01:14:04
get it for a a period of time to kind of
01:14:06
create a strategic Advantage for us the
01:14:09
only thing I would say is uh when the
01:14:12
voice service goes live we are going to
01:14:14
make sure that everyone can access this
01:14:18
uh the 111 service regardless of which
01:14:21
TCO you're with so although I'd love
01:14:23
personally everyone to be with one New
01:14:25
Zealand if you are with 2° if you are
01:14:28
with spark and you are somewhere remote
01:14:31
once our um voice service Launches on
01:14:34
the starlink SpaceX service if you need
01:14:36
Emergency Services you'll be able to um
01:14:38
you'll be able to get help no matter
01:14:40
what TCO you're with where it's a kind
01:14:41
of a gift gift to New Zealand from a
01:14:43
health and safety perspective I don't
01:14:44
want anyone getting in trouble just
01:14:46
because they haven't chosen the right
01:14:47
TCO provider yeah it feels like that's
01:14:49
probably the responsible thing to do
01:14:50
right oh yeah that's the right thing
01:14:51
that's why I'm going to be really proud
01:14:54
that uh we're leading this and there are
01:14:55
other satellite
01:14:57
providers um SpaceX and Elon Musk are
01:15:00
way ahead of probably you know they're
01:15:02
years ahead of um of anyone else and um
01:15:06
I love the fact that you know um when we
01:15:08
make a big move like this everyone tries
01:15:10
to play catchup I think uh competition
01:15:12
is good right oh absolutely it's
01:15:14
necessary otherwise nothing nothing
01:15:16
nothing gets changed nothing gets done
01:15:18
did did you have any direct dealings
01:15:19
with um Elon Musk I've only I've had two
01:15:23
uh email conversations with them um one
01:15:25
was on the on the
01:15:27
deal um uh the other one was when we did
01:15:30
our uh our launch um video and uh we
01:15:35
sent it through to them for approval and
01:15:37
he said I love it uh you've just taken
01:15:39
stock footage of a Russian rocket not a
01:15:42
SpaceX rocket cuz you can you oh my
01:15:45
god excuse me so can you please change
01:15:48
that out so uh that was a uh that was a
01:15:51
a slight a slight M uh
01:15:55
and then the um that's like the
01:15:57
McDonald's placement it's all over again
01:15:58
yeah and then the third third thing
01:16:00
which wasn't uh was indirect is when we
01:16:02
um when we started doing our testing in
01:16:04
New Zealand he um he messaged saying
01:16:07
cool on uh on X so yeah but um you know
01:16:13
uh regardless of whether you agree uh
01:16:16
with his politics or his views uh on
01:16:19
life in general he is a technology
01:16:21
genius and um you know uh the intent of
01:16:25
saving humanity and prolonging humanity
01:16:29
and giving as many people access to this
01:16:31
amazing technology as possible you know
01:16:33
what's not to love about that oh yeah I
01:16:34
mean yeah I know he's polarizing but the
01:16:36
guy's an absolute genius like he's he
01:16:38
he's got goals and plans to change the
01:16:40
world like he's already looking at Life
01:16:42
on Mars and things like that and you
01:16:43
just think of the impact that Tesla's
01:16:45
had on the um on the E car market if it
01:16:46
wasn't for Tesla we we wouldn't have um
01:16:49
pollster or byd No Ex we probably still
01:16:51
just have like Priuses driving around
01:16:53
which is why competition is good right
01:16:55
and um you know and and again I'm we I'm
01:16:58
proud We were the uh we're the second
01:16:59
TCO in the world and the and the a first
01:17:02
in the southern hemisphere to partner
01:17:04
with SpaceX and starlink from little old
01:17:06
little old New Zealand uh that's New
01:17:09
Zealand at its best so I love that stuff
01:17:11
right and that kind of can do attitude
01:17:13
and um new zealanders are good people uh
01:17:16
we're bold we're Brave we're cheeky
01:17:18
we'll ask you know what's the worst that
01:17:20
can happen just get a know and more than
01:17:22
often in the not it pays off and it did
01:17:24
it did in l as well and uh and I think
01:17:27
you know New Zealand does its best we do
01:17:29
deals like that more and more yeah
01:17:31
that's a ballsy move eh it's very Brash
01:17:33
yeah but it is seriously New Zealand at
01:17:35
its best and that's a one of the things
01:17:37
I am a little bit um you know I get on
01:17:40
my Soap Box about is there's and you
01:17:43
know we were talking before this is an
01:17:45
amazing country you know and uh and it's
01:17:49
we have to remind ourselves uh of that
01:17:51
it's to to live and work in New Zealand
01:17:53
the greatest country on the planet it
01:17:55
and it's our job to kind of keep it that
01:17:57
way but you hear this negativity from
01:17:59
some parts of the country and some
01:18:02
groups I just dismiss it you replace it
01:18:05
with positivity you need more positivity
01:18:08
more good news stories you know more
01:18:09
Innovation more bold moves more big
01:18:12
plays uh more Innovation more
01:18:16
Partnerships that's that's when we've
01:18:18
always been at our best when we when we
01:18:20
do that right so um we need to see more
01:18:23
of it and I I do feel like
01:18:25
starting to get some green shoots of of
01:18:28
our mojo back which will be fantastic
01:18:31
yeah well there's always going to be the
01:18:32
you know the winders of society isn't
01:18:33
there that's always going to that's
01:18:35
always going to be there unfortunately
01:18:36
but um J how are you doing for time we
01:18:38
haven't even talked about the W yet oh I
01:18:40
know my favorite my favorite topic and
01:18:42
uh speaking about social media Dom yeah
01:18:46
that's whenever there's a Warriors game
01:18:48
my wife now confiscates my mobile phone
01:18:51
uh that's also a perfect example of why
01:18:54
you shouldn't be on social media after
01:18:55
you've had a glass of wine uh it's also
01:18:58
a perfect example of uh I am me 100% of
01:19:02
the time right doesn't matter and I've
01:19:04
got to remind myself uh at times that uh
01:19:08
at all the at all times I'm Jason Paris
01:19:11
the dad but I'm also Jason I'm Jason
01:19:13
Paris the warrior supporter I'm also
01:19:15
Jason Paris the CEO of uh of one of one
01:19:17
New Zealand so um and I look I'm not I'm
01:19:21
not that guy who's the screaming
01:19:25
parent from the side of the sports field
01:19:29
or uh at a game um abusing refs or
01:19:34
players at all um I was just as a fan I
01:19:37
was really frustrated because I I feel I
01:19:39
feel like that um sometimes uh the New
01:19:43
Zealand teams especially the Warriors
01:19:44
Warriors and any sportting competition
01:19:46
get a um yeah don't get consistency at
01:19:50
times yeah so this was this was a tweet
01:19:52
you wrote in the 2023 season um
01:19:55
what was it yeah was there backlash do
01:19:56
you get in trouble no I I haven't had to
01:19:58
buy a beer in New Zealand since so
01:20:01
that's been good I got a lot of support
01:20:03
like a massive amount of support because
01:20:04
you you watching them they they go to
01:20:06
the banket for just about every single
01:20:08
but anyway I don't want to get you R up
01:20:10
with it don't no but like at the the end
01:20:12
of the day um refs are human and they
01:20:16
are just trying to do their best and all
01:20:19
of us make mistakes and so what I was
01:20:22
asking for was consistency and I think
01:20:24
um yeah the way that uh I communicated
01:20:27
if I had my time again um I'd probably
01:20:29
say it in a different in a different way
01:20:32
to get a different to get a better
01:20:33
outcome yeah but um you know it it just
01:20:36
demonstrated again hopefully you know uh
01:20:39
how proud I am to be a part of uh the
01:20:41
team that supports the the Warriors the
01:20:43
they're a fantastic Club fantastic
01:20:45
organization uh I don't know if you've
01:20:47
met cam George but man he's a he's
01:20:49
amazing Andrew Webster what a leader
01:20:52
I've had him on the podcast amazing guy
01:20:54
yeah just a phenomenal guy right and um
01:20:56
again just great values good people
01:21:00
great work ethic I love what the club
01:21:02
stands for five teams next year um
01:21:06
female teams going to going to be
01:21:08
launching um so feel like we're building
01:21:11
some momentum to win our first ever
01:21:13
Premiership yeah and so that TW do you
01:21:16
get in trouble with anyone like who who
01:21:17
tells the CEO off yeah well no one
01:21:20
really but you know the NRL were a bit
01:21:22
pissed off saying you know you can't you
01:21:24
you can't criticize uh you can't
01:21:26
criticize our ref so I had a
01:21:28
conversation with them and said yeah
01:21:29
that wasn't the that wasn't the
01:21:30
atttention behind it uh it was to get
01:21:33
you know a uh a fear uh a fear go for uh
01:21:36
the the one New Zealand one New Zealand
01:21:38
Warriors um so I got a um I got a
01:21:41
request from the NRL to be a Facebook
01:21:43
friend after that so I think we've made
01:21:45
it we're good we're good um yeah so so
01:21:48
vone and now one have been um God you've
01:21:50
been sponsoring the Warriors for is it
01:21:51
the longest partnership in the enl it is
01:21:54
yeah what's the what's the ROI for you
01:21:56
guys it must be a huge expense uh well
01:21:58
no actually it's um yeah it's pretty
01:22:00
good it's pretty good value like I'm I
01:22:02
can't say the exact number because
01:22:04
they've got a lot of lot of sponsorships
01:22:05
and a lot of commercial commercial
01:22:07
Partners but look I think it's a it's
01:22:11
a it's a fair amount to pay
01:22:14
for a long-term sponsorship where you
01:22:17
get the good with the bad and
01:22:21
increasingly more of the good so
01:22:25
they're a heartbreaking team aren't they
01:22:26
they are but the most loyal fan base
01:22:29
yeah um the team behind it do an
01:22:32
incredible job for the fans you know
01:22:35
sell out
01:22:37
crowds uh they take the game throughout
01:22:40
the
01:22:40
country their values and ethics are
01:22:43
again New Zealand at its best hard work
01:22:46
Innovation honesty trust you know um
01:22:51
recruiting good people first across you
01:22:53
know every part of the organiz ation so
01:22:57
yeah and and then you have years like
01:23:00
the last couple with the up thew
01:23:03
momentum you know making the finals
01:23:05
sellout crowds playing really well
01:23:08
scoring spectacular tries fantastic
01:23:11
defense attracting you know huge Talent
01:23:14
from Australia where we had to
01:23:15
previously pay over the odds and now we
01:23:18
pay you know Market rates for um yeah
01:23:22
we're in a really good really good shape
01:23:24
actually so it's a fantastic sponsorship
01:23:28
where I'd like to think that we get
01:23:30
amazing value for money and so to the
01:23:32
Warriers because you know we amplify
01:23:34
their brand and use our platforms to do
01:23:35
that do that too so yeah whenever it
01:23:38
comes up for Renewal like you're a
01:23:39
massive fan booy like we've established
01:23:41
that when whenever it comes up for
01:23:42
Renewal do you come up against some
01:23:44
resistance from people on the team like
01:23:46
oh let's go no no not at all and I've
01:23:48
I've said to cam if uh if I had my uh my
01:23:50
time I'd sign sign a 100-year contract
01:23:53
uh that's not my job it's probably past
01:23:55
my past my DF past my DFA yeah but you
01:23:59
know um like no we always compar to
01:24:02
other sponsorships that are available in
01:24:04
the market and uh and how much you'd pay
01:24:06
pay for them and it's it's great value
01:24:08
for money um and it's not really a
01:24:11
sponsorship but it really is a
01:24:13
partnership it's it's uh it's a
01:24:14
friendship even you know we've got each
01:24:16
other's back after 20 25 years and if
01:24:19
it's not 100 I hope it's another another
01:24:20
25 and there'll be good times in bed and
01:24:23
I think that's why the fans of New
01:24:24
Zealand respect us as well it's why it's
01:24:26
often called the one New Zealand
01:24:27
Warriors people no matter you know who
01:24:30
are fans or the media are happy to give
01:24:31
us the attribution because because of
01:24:34
the the loyalty and other thing I would
01:24:35
say is that the game is going from
01:24:37
strength to strength you know the
01:24:40
NRL they are so Innovative the way that
01:24:43
they've sped the game up the way they
01:24:44
packaged the game up the way they test
01:24:46
and trial rules and and keep the game
01:24:49
you know the the the ball and play and
01:24:51
play more other sports codes I think
01:24:53
have got a lot to learn from the to be
01:24:54
honest oh even the way they handled the
01:24:57
pandemic as well and yeah played on it
01:24:59
was um yeah really Innovative and what
01:25:00
to sacrifice the Warriors you know away
01:25:02
from their families for two three three
01:25:05
years so yeah and um I'm excited I'm
01:25:08
going to Vegas so as you mentioned I'm
01:25:10
I've just turned 50 there are nine boys
01:25:14
from
01:25:16
inago uh going to Vegas for their for
01:25:20
their 50th birthdays so Vegas watch out
01:25:24
sounds like um yeah The Hangover all
01:25:26
over again yeah the the Tigers in the
01:25:28
room The Benchmark is everyone who gets
01:25:31
on the plane has to get back on it home
01:25:34
so uh that's the Benchmark as long as we
01:25:36
get back on that plane then I think
01:25:39
everyone will be everyone will be fine
01:25:40
yeah ideally with a full set of teeth as
01:25:42
well yeah yeah no facial
01:25:44
tattoos oh what about the stadium in
01:25:46
chist church so you guys are um signed a
01:25:48
10e sponsorship deal that yeah so if we
01:25:51
do sponsorships um we're either big or
01:25:54
nothing right so we're naming right or
01:25:57
we're nothing we don't like to you you
01:25:58
go big or go home on that stuff which is
01:26:00
why we're quite particular about uh
01:26:03
about where we invest and uh like the
01:26:08
team down there um they' done such an
01:26:10
amazing such an amazing job I don't know
01:26:13
if you've seen it but it's going up it's
01:26:14
on time on budget the Design's
01:26:18
spectacular uh can cantabrians love it
01:26:22
the South Island loves it
01:26:25
um yeah I I think increasingly when uh
01:26:28
big acts come to New Zealand they'll go
01:26:30
to ockland and and in CHR church so
01:26:33
that's that's exciting we wanted an
01:26:35
anchor Point um in the South Island to
01:26:38
demonstrate that we're just're not an
01:26:39
ockland Centric brand you know uh we're
01:26:42
about the mainlanders uh as well and so
01:26:46
we're putting a lot of Technology into
01:26:47
the stadium to uh to help help help
01:26:50
enable it and it's going to be a
01:26:51
fantastic partnership and of course
01:26:53
we've got Partnerships with Live Nation
01:26:55
so we bring with the biggest artists
01:26:58
part Partnerships with uh one New
01:26:59
Zealand Warriors as well so hopefully
01:27:02
with the sport and with the um with the
01:27:04
music act uh you know we'll have uh all
01:27:07
facets kind of locked up yeah you guys
01:27:09
do a great job I I was um in breakfast
01:27:11
radio when um vone came on board as the
01:27:14
sponsor for the New Zealand Music Awards
01:27:15
yes so it was sort of every year the the
01:27:17
awards were on it was like average
01:27:18
average average vone came on board
01:27:20
amazing amazing amazing and then with
01:27:22
the sponsorship ended yeah back to
01:27:23
average again yeah so when we do it we
01:27:26
want to do do it yeah um what do you
01:27:28
want to do next like bigger role smaller
01:27:30
role like you're still like on the way
01:27:33
up you think I hope so yeah
01:27:37
um uh it's I I just again I love New
01:27:41
Zealand
01:27:43
so my preference is to continue to live
01:27:46
and work work here uh I wouldn't want to
01:27:49
move if we had to move overseas until
01:27:52
after my daughter finished high school
01:27:54
so she's 11 so bit of a stunt there uh I
01:27:58
don't want to overstay my welcome at one
01:28:00
New Zealand either though you know so
01:28:02
how do you know when the time's right
01:28:03
yeah I don't know this uh um it's not
01:28:06
right yet but maybe I'll just know so I
01:28:09
get up every morning and I'm super
01:28:11
excited the again it's a fast fast
01:28:14
changing industry uh generative and
01:28:18
autonomous AI is exploding and we're at
01:28:21
the Forefront of that as well so that
01:28:23
I'm always learned learning and
01:28:24
developing so that's quite cool I can
01:28:25
see massive opportunities for our
01:28:27
customers and for our business and that
01:28:30
if um if my owners just said hey
01:28:34
JP uh it's just status quo just run the
01:28:38
business don't change a thing don't
01:28:39
touch a thing that would definitely be
01:28:41
time to leave I I'd get bored within
01:28:43
about 10 seconds they're not like that
01:28:46
though they are super ambitious and uh
01:28:48
and Keen for us to accelerate that would
01:28:49
be one and then I suppose if another big
01:28:52
opportunity came up to do something cool
01:28:54
that would be meaningful and impactful
01:28:56
for New
01:28:57
Zealand uh then I'd have a I'd have a
01:29:00
look I'd have a look at it definitely
01:29:02
wouldn't be politics I get asked that
01:29:04
that was going to be my next thing it
01:29:06
yeah like after I did I did want that I
01:29:08
had a thought after after watching like
01:29:09
the career careers of um key and luxen
01:29:12
no no no no I always every time I see
01:29:15
why would you want it I'm pleased you
01:29:16
said that every time I see a pol
01:29:17
politician I uh thank them for their
01:29:20
sacrifice it is because man like it's
01:29:24
not just a sacrifice that you see it's a
01:29:27
sacrifice that you don't that you don't
01:29:29
see you know the scrutiny they come
01:29:30
under at a cafe or in their social lives
01:29:34
the the time that they spend away from
01:29:37
their homes the documentation they have
01:29:40
to read the hours they have to uh put in
01:29:44
the significance of the decisions that
01:29:46
they have to uh have to make uh I'm also
01:29:50
not sure that I'm thick skinned enough
01:29:52
to take the you know crap the cop the
01:29:55
criticism that that they get even if you
01:29:57
get into government you know that 50% of
01:29:59
the country didn't vote for you so
01:30:01
that's quite hard right you imagine
01:30:02
walking not that you imagine walking
01:30:04
through and going knowing 50% in this
01:30:07
room didn't back you you know it's
01:30:09
pretty it's a pretty hard thing to get
01:30:11
you to get your get your head around and
01:30:13
then you know again also
01:30:15
family uh social media is brutal the
01:30:18
impact on kids um you know family all
01:30:23
that kind of stuff
01:30:24
it's um and then what I've convinced
01:30:26
myself is that if you are in a business
01:30:29
that can
01:30:30
make positive impact at scale you can do
01:30:34
great things for New Zealand still even
01:30:36
if you're not necessarily in politics
01:30:37
running a running a portfolio and so you
01:30:41
know this this deal with um
01:30:43
SpaceX I think will do more for New
01:30:46
Zealand's telecommunications
01:30:49
infrastructure that a government policy
01:30:51
ever could uh and we're funding it so
01:30:53
there's no cost to the taxpayer so
01:30:55
that's pretty amazing um and you know
01:30:58
hopefully what we do with autonomous a
01:31:01
um AI will be another big thing that
01:31:04
that New Zealand will will be benefit
01:31:06
from so I also probably don't see you
01:31:09
know don't see the need to move into
01:31:12
politics to make a a big positive impact
01:31:14
on on New Zealand but you know what's
01:31:16
next I don't know I hope it's just
01:31:19
within my control and that uh that I
01:31:22
don't you know get that tap on the
01:31:23
shoulder going what are you doing here
01:31:25
and I go yeah I know and then I'm off
01:31:27
you're the bad shoulder tap yeah yeah
01:31:28
exactly also yeah um yeah politics I
01:31:31
yeah with your skeletons in the closet I
01:31:33
don't know if you could if you'd be F
01:31:35
prime minister do you want to talk about
01:31:36
the um exactly the McDonald's incident
01:31:39
at the
01:31:40
sevens where was this were you at
01:31:42
McDonald's at the time or was this post
01:31:44
no post McDonald's this may have been
01:31:46
Prem McDonald's um how old were you like
01:31:49
in your 20s 30s early 20s in your
01:31:52
defense those um Hotel doors do slam
01:31:54
alarmingly quick don't they yeah so uh
01:31:57
this was Wellington
01:31:59
sevens as we were all dressed up Mexican
01:32:02
theme it was the day one of two
01:32:05
days uh as people drunk way too much and
01:32:10
needed something to soak it up so I
01:32:12
didn't wake up with The Hangover the
01:32:13
next morning bought
01:32:15
McDonald's uh for whatever reason took
01:32:18
all my clothes off in the hotel room was
01:32:20
we eating my was eating my McDonald's
01:32:22
nude and and then was like oh I know I'm
01:32:25
going to wake up feeling really rough in
01:32:26
the morning and I'm going to feel even
01:32:28
worse if I can smell that kind of Old
01:32:31
McDonald smell how do I get rid of this
01:32:35
and so I I was like in my drunken State
01:32:38
going I'll uh put the bag outside my
01:32:43
room and then as I put the bag outside
01:32:46
my room I heard a click and it was like
01:32:49
3: in the morning and I was like oh my
01:32:53
God God I've got a McDonald's bag and
01:32:56
I'm nude and so then I was like there
01:32:59
must
01:33:00
be uh
01:33:02
some like kind of uh closet with towels
01:33:05
or something in it and so I started in
01:33:07
my drunken State trying doors which
01:33:11
would have been other people's hotel
01:33:12
room doors and I then was like oh my God
01:33:16
I went down the next floor thinking well
01:33:18
the you know the the closet with the
01:33:19
laundry might be on the next floor down
01:33:20
trying doors on the next floor down
01:33:23
until I gave up and then I had to get a
01:33:25
reception with a McDonald's bag in front
01:33:29
of me the door dings open unfortunately
01:33:32
there's like 10 people in reception even
01:33:34
at 3:00 in the morning plus reception
01:33:36
staff and the beauty of it is the guy
01:33:40
just looked up from reception and said
01:33:42
what
01:33:44
room he' seen it before every weekend he
01:33:47
was like what room I said in my room he
01:33:49
grabbed and he unfortunately had to come
01:33:51
up with me cuz I had to describe what
01:33:53
was in my room to cuz I didn't have ID
01:33:56
clearly and uh describe in the room and
01:33:59
the elevator was a mirrored one so there
01:34:03
was nowhere to hide my body from him and
01:34:08
I remember the music the left elevator
01:34:10
was like and I was just like oh my God
01:34:14
sobered me up real sobered me up real
01:34:17
quick so uh yeah there there are a few
01:34:22
stories uh like that which as you've
01:34:25
said I'm pretty glad that uh yeah social
01:34:28
media wasn't as prevalent when I was
01:34:30
young and people hadn't haven't gotten
01:34:31
any photos luckily so um Vegas next year
01:34:34
um un's to bed each night yeah Andy's to
01:34:36
bed and that's that's my Benchmark
01:34:40
that's my Benchmark do not get locked
01:34:41
out of my hotel room naked yeah oh
01:34:43
that's great it's a great story I I've
01:34:46
had unfortunately a true one yeah have
01:34:48
you had a similar situation s similar
01:34:50
thing yeah s similar thing it's and yeah
01:34:52
andies ever since but those doors like
01:34:54
what how did that shut so quickly I know
01:34:56
exactly and I'll never forget that sound
01:34:58
of the clarck uh and I'll never forget
01:35:00
but as I said you know that what room
01:35:02
it's clearly something that happens
01:35:04
regularly you know every damn weekend
01:35:07
for hotel every damn weekend um C finish
01:35:10
with any any
01:35:13
regrets any
01:35:18
regrets uh yeah there's a like when I
01:35:21
was a teenager you know I mentioned
01:35:24
before you know you're too cool for
01:35:26
school I remember um being a 16year old
01:35:29
and one moment being a little bit
01:35:31
disrespectful to my grandmother it was
01:35:33
only once but I remember her telling me
01:35:36
off and I remember look at you I'm now
01:35:38
15 and it was when I was 16 so any
01:35:42
moment like that where um I felt that I
01:35:47
was disrespectful no matter what age or
01:35:50
not as caring or didn't rep represent
01:35:52
myself
01:35:54
uh in the way that I would like to
01:35:56
that's probably my biggest my biggest
01:35:58
regret it's it's all those human moments
01:36:01
more than anything else nothing really
01:36:02
work related you know like the jokes
01:36:05
about the um the tra the the place met
01:36:07
reprints all that kind of stuff you know
01:36:10
disting but in the scheme of things it's
01:36:13
it's any moment where I um I hurt I hurt
01:36:16
someone that's the stuff that uh I'd
01:36:19
regret I reckon that says a lot about
01:36:20
your character you know three and a half
01:36:22
decades later you still yeah that's the
01:36:24
first thing that comes to mind it is and
01:36:26
I I remember it and I can remember that
01:36:28
I can remember that feeling of letting
01:36:29
down my grandmother now yeah are you
01:36:32
proud of
01:36:34
yourself yeah I think I am like I I know
01:36:37
I'm a good person like Steve Hansen um
01:36:41
one of my favorite quotes of his is the
01:36:43
mirror never
01:36:44
lies and so like I know I'm not perfect
01:36:48
by any stretch but I know that I try and
01:36:50
be the best that I can be and and I try
01:36:54
not to beat myself up when I let myself
01:36:56
uh let myself down so um yeah I'm proud
01:37:01
I'm the thing I'm probably most proud of
01:37:03
is my children and feel like um I had a
01:37:06
part to play
01:37:08
in uh bringing them up with with good
01:37:11
values and and being and being good good
01:37:13
kids I'm proud of the relationships that
01:37:15
I've got I'm proud of my good
01:37:17
friend uh and you know um hopefully the
01:37:20
people that I've had the opportunity to
01:37:22
work with or
01:37:24
be friends with or or talk to um have
01:37:27
found that a you know a positive
01:37:29
engagement and um yeah so I'm proud of
01:37:33
the I'm proud of again probably proud of
01:37:34
the human stuff as much as anything well
01:37:37
Jason Paris this has been a lot of fun
01:37:39
today it's been great you're a unique
01:37:41
CEO and it's been um fantastic to sit
01:37:43
down with you and pick your brains yeah
01:37:45
thank you I uh yeah thanks for having me
01:37:47
um really really enjoyed it and as
01:37:48
always these type of
01:37:49
conversations uh you learn as much you
01:37:52
know through the conversation
01:37:54
uh when you're talking about stuff as uh
01:37:57
as you think you're trying to help
01:37:58
others with as well so feels like a you
01:38:00
know thank you for having me on uh um
01:38:03
every time I get a kind of request from
01:38:05
someone who I see as a famous New
01:38:07
Zealander kind of like yourself I go
01:38:09
what me you know so um bit surreal bit
01:38:13
surreal being here but uh thanks for the
01:38:15
opportunity yeah and that's been great I
01:38:17
feel feel bad now for stretching you up
01:38:18
and getting you to tell the McDonald's
01:38:19
story it was it was lwh hanging fruit
01:38:21
and I didn't need to go there no you're
01:38:23
a great you're a great New Zealander and
01:38:25
um yeah thank you so much for being on
01:38:26
the podcast no thanks for your time Che
