If you’re looking for some good business reading it is well worth picking up a copy of 'The Best Leaders Don’t Shout’ a new book written by Takapuna local Bruce Cotterill. Cotterill is a transformation leader who describes his career as a "vertical learning curve”. And looking at his CV he’s well qualified to provide some good advice, having extensive experience across a range of industries. As CEO, he has led real estate group Colliers in both New Zealand and Australia, Kerry Packer’s ACP Magazines, and iconic New Zealand sportswear company Canterbury International. In 2008, he was asked by shareholders to step in as CEO of Yellow Pages Group to lead that Company through a period of dramatic change, including the restructure of the Company’s $1.8 billion of debt. These days, as well as being an author, Bruce Cotterill is a professional director, business advisor, and has gone on to become one of Australasia’s leading conference keynote speakers. He is speaking at the North Harbour Club’s Business Excellence Network (BEN) Breakfast at Regatta in Takapuna on November 20th. Channel’s Aidan Bennett, who recently enjoyed reading the book, put these questions to Bruce in late September about the book and life in general.
AIDAN BENNETT: I bought your book mainly because I knew you were a ‘local’ as I was departing overseas from Auckland Airport and needed some in-flight reading material. I really enjoyed it, learnt a great deal. What made you decide to it?
BRUCE COTTERILL: I’ve always had a plan to write a business book about the things I had learned. I guess I feel that I have had some pretty unique experiences, but also that I have an approach that is different and that has worked well for me. I have always wanted to share those ideas. I’ve done so through speaking for many years now, but there has always been the desire to spread the message further if I could. I had a couple of false starts, usually because I would get started on the manuscript, and then take on another project and it was always the book that dropped to the bottom of the priority list. But in 2017 I set aside some time and was able to get it done. As it turned out, once I had the time and space, writing it came pretty easy in the end.
AB: Love the book title, how did you decide on the name?
BC: I must have tried 100 titles. Some were good but nothing that summed up what the book, and I guess, my own ideas around the topics of leadership and management, were about. I was actually getting quite impatient about it at one point. Then I was watching a movie with a military theme. It featured that classic movie scene of an army sergeant standing right up against the new recruit with his nose about an inch away from the young man’s face, shouting instructions. It just clicked. The best leaders don’t shout. I then wrote the poem that features in the prologue in the first few pages and it felt right because it summed up what my approach to leadership is all about.
AB: You were appointed to lead Colliers at the relatively young age of 34. That must have been a challenging time. You’ve now been there and done that in terms of business and learnt a great deal. Looking back, what one piece of advice would Bruce Cotterill in 2018 now give to the young 34 year-old Bruce Cotterill?
BC: I was 34, with a newborn child, when I moved from Colliers New Zealand to lead Colliers Australia. I was still learning about leadership, the industry was still in the hangover from the property crash in the early 1990’s, and we were trying to recover the business under the constant threat of the bankers. At one point early on we couldn’t make the payroll. My immediate reaction was to try to meet everyone else’s agenda. The overwhelming lesson from that period was that we always have more time than we think we have. So firstly, and most importantly, we should take the time to listen to those who are closer to the business, including your own people, clients, suppliers and other stakeholders, before deciding on what needs to be done and what the priorities are. When I finally left Colliers and went to work for Kerry Packer in the magazine business, we had similar financial challenges. But I gave myself time to ask the questions and develop better answers. I’ve done it ever since.
AB: In one sentence, what is your Seven Principles of Profit concept?
BC: I developed the Seven Principles of Profit as a way of trying to capture everything we do in business in a series of simple headings that provide people with a template, or a series of boxes to put things in. So, whether you are writing your business plan, developing a client support programme, planning your day, or even running a family, it gives you a series of headings to consider. Although I developed the seven principles 20 years ago, I still think it works well for that purpose. And everything we do in business still falls under one of those seven headings. (Sorry, four sentences!).
AB: What is Bruce Cotterill mainly up to these days? What does a typical week look like when you are not cycling with (your wife) Rose in France and Corsica?
BC: I work as a Director or Chair on six boards, one of which is a voluntary board. I’m also an advisor to a number of corporate organisations in New Zealand and Australia. Then there is the speaking and writing. Last year I did about 50 conference presentations, plus I run my masterclass for leaders programme four times a year. I write a fortnightly column for Stuff, and record a weekly video called Bruce Cotterill’s Blog for Business.
AB: I see that in your “spare time” you are a husband, father, lifeguard, ageing triathlete, competitive ocean swimmer and frustrated golfer – and also Chairman of Swimming New Zealand. Which of these roles or pastimes have tested you the most?
BC: They all do. The fading athlete inside continues to test me but I’m there for the fun and the health reasons mostly nowadays. The role as Chair of a national sporting organisation is very challenging. In this country, unless you are one of the big sports – rugby, cricket, netball, rowing, yachting – it is incredibly tough. Funding and talent are the biggest challenges. At Swimming New Zealand, we now have a great team in place, but it’s taken us a long time to get there. Funding is really difficult, and of course it’s the parents of swimmers who end up footing the bill. One of our goals at present is to drive down the ‘user pays’ component for parents. You’re only as good as your next result, and in swimming we’re competing in a global sport. It’s the second biggest sport in the Olympics, and the top 16 in an event can be separated by less than one second. That doesn’t happen in rowing or yachting. It’s unique in that sense and I think the achievements of people like Lauren Boyle are under-appreciated. What’s also rewarding – and most of the general public won’t see this – is that we put 1500 swim teachers through education programmes every year. I’ve spent 40 years hanging around surf life saving and water safety and our drowning statistics continue to frustrate me. We have to get more people capable of swimming for their lives in moving water.
AB: If you were 34 and starting a business in 2019, what would that business do?
BC: It wouldn’t be a lot different to what I am doing now. Ideally, it would be doing something with my children Suzie and Fraser, both of whom are showing an interest in business. It would probably have a healthy dose of digital marketing and would revolve around helping people and organisations to improve their performance. I would also like to be taking the leadership messages into high schools.
AB: Complete the following… I love living on the Shore because…
BC: … I grew up in the Bay of Plenty and spent my teenage years and early 2s in Mount Maunganui. Later I married a Takapuna girl. So, if you have to live in a big city such as Auckland, being by the coast is a must for me. The summers on the Shore are terrific with plenty of access to well-run sporting events which suits my family. You didn’t ask, but my fear for the North Shore, is that we are tied to a Mayor and a city administration that doesn’t come across the bridge. And if you look at the numbers, we will never elect the Mayor. South Auckland will always elect a Super City Mayor, and I believe we are losing input into our North Shore infrastructure and communities because we are not electorally important enough.
Bruce Cotterill will speak at the North Harbour Club’s Business Excellence Network (BEN) Breakfast at the Regatta Bar & Eatery in Takapuna at 7am on Tuesday November 20th. This is a North Harbour Club fundraising event that he is supporting. To book and for more details visit: www.northharbourclub.co.nz or email gill@northharbourclub.co.nz
