“Leaders are not paid to make the inevitable happen.”
This year has been a reminder that leadership is never static. For many people and organisations across New Zealand and Australia, 2025 has been demanding. Economic pressure, talent shortages, and persistent productivity challenges have been constant themes. Within that context, Pivot & Pace continued to evolve—stretching how we work, embracing AI-enabled processes, and ultimately delivering our strongest financial results to date. That outcome belongs to our entire team.
Greg has been instrumental in our ongoing success. His diligence, capability as a speaker and consultant, relentless work ethic, good humour and steady guidance anchor our business. Marie has continued to be the backbone of our client support and internal business operations, particularly as our service model and tools have evolved significantly. This year we reshaped our support team and welcomed Lisa, who has already strengthened our rhythm and capacity in her Associate and Executive Support role.
Our board also experienced important renewal. We farewelled two outstanding contributors, Denis Snelgar and Stuart Chrisp, whose wisdom and governance stewardship have shaped the firm’s journey. We also welcomed Mark Revis, who brings fresh energy, property and governance experience as we look to our next horizon. What has got us here won’t get us to where we are going!
As a firm, we continued to build on strong strategic partnerships with John Spence, the University of Canterbury, and through our third year sponsoring the Canterbury Civil Contractors’ Annual Awards and fourth year as a key sponsor of the Canterbury Institute of Directors. These relationships, alongside other professional services partnerships, have contributed to our learning, resilience, market insight and, importantly, enduring professional friendships. It also our way of giving back to those who support us.
Alongside the organisational story sits the personal one. Losing Mum in early January brought the year into sharp focus. Acting as executor alongside my brother was challenging but meaningful, and it also enabled us to complete our family farm succession—transitioning it after 110 years to my brother. That is something I am really proud of. It took compromise, challenging conversations and time to achieve my mothers intent & legacy.
This year marked my 21st year of self-employment, our 19th year of marriage (thanks to my wife for the endless support), and Pivot & Pace’s seventh year as a branded entity. I taught two postgraduate university courses, spent 36 days working in Australia across five trips, and managed seven weeks of leave. Our eldest daughter graduated with her Bachelor of Commerce, made the Dean’s List, and earned a scholarship to continue developing her tech start-up (very proud Dad) & our youngest two thrived at school and sport. The death of a good Army mate (who did some work for us at P&P) was tough reminder of how quickly life shifts and its fragility. In April I was awarded the ED by the NZ Army and made the decision to leave the Army on 1 December, concluding 34 years of service.
The data from the year reinforces my ongoing commitment to discipline and wellbeing—something that is a constant challenge. This years numbers include:
• 145 alcohol-free days – started tracking this year: scary
• 10,008 average daily steps – nailed the 10k
• 89 weights sessions and 133 cardio sessions – whew they hurt!
• 467.7 km fast-walked in dedicated workouts – Infantry knees hanging in there!
• 43 minutes of exercise per day on average (up from 34 in 2024) – Yay
• Average sleep of 7 hours 19 minutes – zzzzz need it!
• Cardio fitness above average – LOL I’ll take that as a win thanks Apple watch!
• 78 flights and 46 nights away from home working – It felt a big travel year & was.
• 31 business and biography books read – most things in the world have already been done….learn from others!
We are lucky enough to work closely with many of New Zealand’s admired businesses as they seek to improve, navigate change and implement their strategic goals. The learning is continuous, the expectations are high and the relationships are ones requiring high trust. I am grateful for the opportunities this presents and am constantly amazed at the international, national, industry and regional awards many of our clients have achieved.
It has also been a tough year for all leaders and businesses. Change has been constant. There have been really tough decisions, many courageous conversations and all have worked hard. Some industries have struggled while others have thrived. Through it all there has been a need to exercise judgement and to support key decisions – leadership is never easy.
From a client delivery perspective—relating to my own client work— annual highlights included:
• 26 executives coached individually within our Executive Leadership Programme
• Working closely as a strategist and advisor contracted to 18 different senior leadership teams and a number of Boards.
• 43 board meetings in a formal governance (chairing 34) including my first Australian board chair role.
• 41 strategic implementation planning sessions
• Four keynotes delivered and a black-tie dinner hosted
Across all of this, these key leadership lessons/reflections were my top 5;
- When we don’t reflect, we repeat. Reflection, self-awareness and understanding how we are perceived remain such underdeveloped skills in many senior leaders. Without reflection, mistakes recur, opportunities are missed and agility is lost. At a national level, persistent low productivity reflects this gap. Reflection is not a luxury—it is foundational to resilient leadership and building high-performing organisations.
- Leaders who avoid the frontline lose relevance. Tied in to point 1, absence at the frontline means leaders are not situationally aware. This erodes customer insight, safety awareness, operational understanding and credibility. Worse than that the opportunity to influence and motivate is lost. Teams acutely feel the absence of their invisible leaders. Leaders who are visible, curious and connected make better decisions—because they are grounded in reality, not assumptions.
- A three-year strategy without a long-term vision creates risk. Too many organisations anchor themselves to short-cycle planning that masquerades as strategy. Without a 10-year (or longer) vision and a clear mid-term strategy, companies drift into lists of operational preferences. Long-term intent forces discipline, prioritisation and investment thinking; without it, businesses default to being transactional, constantly needing to react & decline.
- Succession remains one of leadership’s biggest failures. Weak talent pipelines, unclear pathways and avoided conversations create disengagement among the very people organisations most need to keep. Boards who have directors with no clear tenure and no succession create the same in their management teams. This year I have seen banks seeking reassurance about board and CEO succession before lending—a signal of how material this risk has become. Succession is not an event; it is an ongoing critical process that requires strong leadership and courage.
- Exploitation dominates while exploration is neglected. Many organisations optimise relentlessly for today while underinvesting in exploration. This imbalance increases mid-term risk and erodes long-term value. The leaders who will win the next decade are those who rebalance intentionally and very few organisations invest in the processes to allow both activities to occur concurrently.
Leading with intent does not mean getting everything right. It means owning the learnings, staying connected to people, and intentionally committing to disciplined improvement.
It has been a full year—one I look back on with a mix of satisfaction and pride. Reflection highlighted to me just how much happens over twelve months: the mistakes, the learning & growth, the moments of overwhelm, and of course the wins! It is so easy to forget the great stuff that happens! Being able to laugh, take time out, work as a team and confide in like minded professionals keeps things real and grounded.
A long summer break now beckons. I look forward to returning in 2026 to review & challenge our own business vision and strategy implementation plan – live what we teach! Then to continue the journey alongside the leaders and organisations we are privileged to support as they work to “get it done” amid the complexity of modern business.
What have you learnt in 2025?
Click here to read: My personal family farm succession journey & reflections
Click here to watch a short video outlining what we do and how we do it.
Leading from the front 