The Story Hub The Story Hub Network

TSH S3 E05 | Paul Gerritsen - Firefighter Entrepreneur, Rowing Across the Atlantic Ocean, Life as a Professional Athlete for New Zealand. A Journey of Discipline & Growth



“Anything becomes boring or difficult, but those are often the times you are making gains towards where you want to go”



Paul Gerritsen is one of the most mentally tough guests we have had on the show. After Rowing for New Zealand Paul joined the New Zealand Fire Service, serving for 12 years before starting Purpose Fill - a waste and skip bin hire business that recycles 40% of what would have ended up in landfill. Oh yeah, and he also was a part of a team that rowed across the Atlantic, but he had no preparation or training. If you are interested in inspiring stories showing grit, discipline, and curiosity this conversation is for you. 



#Grit  #RowingAcrossThe Atlantic #PurposeFill #HardChoicesEasyLife #NZFireService #podcast #LIVESMARTER #thestoryhub #Entreprenuer #Careerjourney #Growth #RowingNewZealand



Time Stamps:

1:09 Entrepreneurial Early Family Life 

4:27 Discovering Rowing, Being Coached by Ex-Olympian Ian Wright

7:08 Culture of Winning at St Pauls

9:29 Trying to Become a Professional Athlete and Row for New Zealand

14:54 Toughest Race Rowing in the U23 World Rowing Championship

18:38 What the Best Coaches Did

22:04 Life in the New Zealand Fire Service

23:33 Saving another Fireman as the Building Collapsed

26:35 Career Progression in Fire Service

29:53 Sudden Opportunity - Rowing Across the Atlantic

34:58 The Boat & The Goal

39:45 Running Out of Food, the Dangers of the Crossing

50:40 Fire Service & Dealing with Stress

54:20 The Quick Growth of Purpose Fill - Saving Waste from Landfill

59:01 Leaving the Fire Service to Lead Purpose Fill Full-time

1:04:29 Paul’s Favourite Achievement

1:05:55 Thoughts on Resilience & Discipline

1:08:38 Final Thoughts

TSH S3 E04 | Liz O’Neil - The Pathway to CFO, Moving a Young Family to China, Career as an In-House Chartered Accountant



This conversation we hear from Liz O’Neil and her journey that has seen her work for large Corporates such as Lion Breweries, Spark, Fonterra, and most recently Coca-Cola Euro-Pacific Partners as CFO of New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Hear about her journey where she didn’t take the traditional Chartered Accountancy path into a professional accounting firm and started in-house. Liz has had a wide ranging career from finance, business analyst and strategy roles to managing the Fonterra Farms in Beijing China. If you are interested in hearing her leadership tips as she has learnt what it means to lead through others and take your blinkers off you will love this conversation. 



#CFO  #CocaCola #Leadership #WorkinginChina #TakingTheBlinkersOff #podcast #LIVESMARTER #thestoryhub #CharteredAccoutant #Careerjourney #Success



Time Stamps:

1:18 Early Life and an Alternative Gap Year at Lion Breweries

7:52 Career Learnings Starting Out as an In-House Accountant

13:52 Becoming a Chartered Accountant - Why Did You Choose to be In-House?

16:26 What Does it Mean to “Take the Blinkers Off? & Developing Curiosity

20:29 Be More Curious with Liz’s Favourite Questions

22:44 Move to Spark, Multiple Roles & Restructures - Building Resilience

26:59 First Leadership Role, Favourite Leadership lessons

30:56 How to make Learning a Lifestyle

35:31 Leaving Spark Without a Next Step

38:56 Moving to China as a family of 4, Managing Fonterra’s Beijing Farms

44:18 Leading through Others, Cross-Cultural Leadership Challenges 

47:08 Leading through Change Effectively

49:26 Managing Work & Family Life

50:27 How to Grow in your Ability to Reflect

53:54 Final Thoughts

This conversation follows Owen Culliney’s success in Law, building up multiple successful law practices including his own. We talk through Owen’s entrepreneurial journey purchasing Clinico, a Denture and Hearing business, and when he finally decided to start his own firm iCLAW alongside Aasha Foley. If you are interested in a career in Law, tips & wisdom in starting your own business, and developing a fun high performance culture you will love this conversation. 

#law #entrepreneur #leadership #highperformanceculture #SimonSinek #podcast #LIVESMARTER #thestoryhub #iCLAW #Clinico

Time Stamps:

1:02 - Immigrant parents & Busy Early Life

5:11 - Law & Business, reflections on the University of Waikato

7:49 - Early Law Career in Hamilton

10:12 - Discovering Commercial Law

13:45 - Favourite Learnings from Harkness Henry

15:07 - Balancing TechnicalProficiency & Networking, Reflections on starting out in Law

19:08 - Standing Out in a Saturated Market

23:37 - So you want to start your own practice?

27:00 - Are YOU ready for a Promotion?

30:35 - $750k revenue pa by 3 years, A new Practice at James and Wells

39:24 - Deciding to start iCLAW

42:27 - Empathy as a Culture

44:42 - In 5 years, could iCLAW be acquired? 

47:47 - Risk vs Sacrifice - the Next Evolution of iCLAW

52:03- Culture of Growth & Success at iCLAW

57:25 Adjusting to the Ebbs & Flows of the Market

1:07:14 Owning Clinico

1:09:48 Mindsets & Capacity to Adapt

1:14:16 Favourite Learnings on his Career so far

1:16:53 Best Books to Help You Grow

1:19:59 Final Thoughts

Brazil’s First Female Salesperson for NZ, Negotiating the Sale of TipTop as CEO, How to Excel in New Roles & Sales, & Create Thriving Team Cultures - this is Kim Ballinger’s journey.

This conversation follows Kim Ballinger’s success in the Global Dairy Industry, starting out in a technical role with a Chemical Technology degree to being the first female salesperson in Brazil for NZ Milk Products. Hear her leadership journey which saw one of her teams get the highest engagement scores in Fonterra after only leading it for a year. We discuss her learnings as CEO of TipTop before and during the process of its sale and reflections on her time so far as CEO of AsureQuality, NZ’s leading food quality state-owned enterprise.

All of this epic story from a shy girl from Invercargill. 

Time Stamps:

1:12 Growing Up in Invercargill, Family Life, Moving to Tauranga in Yr13

8:11 Massey University Experience

10:20 First Job out of Uni - Should you Follow the Money?

13:38 Key Growth and Career Foundations in your Early 20s

15:38 Standing Out as a Graduate/New Team member - Excellence Award in her first year

20:02 Kim’s Habit you NEED to Adopt 

22:21 Heading to Mexico (Scorpion Story!)

26:44 What makes doing an OE worthwhile?

30:09 Becoming the First Female Salesperson in Brazil’s Dairy Industry

35:39 Navigating Mass Currency Devaluation & Learning Brazilian Culture

38:22 To the USA - Business Development for a New Factory

42:08 Stepping into Leadership - Building Trust

46:18 Creating a Thriving Culture & Excellent Results in a Global Team

48:46 Reflections on being a Working Mum

56:12 Strategy & China - Why the Chinese Market Teaches you so Much

59:42 Highest Team Engagement Score in Fonterra, within 12 months as  a Leader

1:05:57 Succeeding as a Woman in the Primary Industries

1:08:34 Becoming Fonterra’s Brand Marketing Manager after the Botulism Scare

1:10:55 Launching Fonterra’s Purpose

1:12:52 Why taking a Demotion Led to Success

1:15:55 Starting in her First CEO Role - TipTop Ice Cream 

1:18:23 Negotiating the Sale of TipTop

1:21:51 Most Proud Achievements at TipTop

1:23:05 CEO of a State-Owned Enterprise - AsureQuality

1:24:40 Favourite learnings from AsureQuality

1:26:05 Final Thoughts leadership, adapting, balancing your focus on the present vs future

Dairy Farmer to Entrepreneur, Stoney Creek’s Journey From Receivership to Iconic Brand, Leading the Creation of a Passionate Team & Customer Base - this is Brent McConnell’s story.

Don’t miss this challenging & inspiring conversation which is the first episode of Season Three on The Story Hub podcast.  Hear about the challenges in trying to turn Stoney Creek around after needing to drop ALL the current suppliers and a complete change in marketing strategy.

We talk about leadership in developing the passionate Stoney Creek culture amongst staff and customers.

So if you are looking for an inspirational and challenging story You will love this episode. Listen now!

Time Stamps:

2:52 - Growing up on a Taupiri farm, upbringing in a dairy farmer family

10:17 - First passions & an entrepreneurial start to an agri career

23:37 - Brents out of the box journey to farm ownership

31:09 - Inspiration for a move into business

38:05 - Buying Stoney Creek in the midst of receivership

41:51 - A steep learning curve into the clothing industry

46:13 - Redefining Stoney Creek - why & how?

58:10 - Quality first - complete change in suppliers

59:47 - Business Strategy - navigating B2C & B2B

1:04:44 - A culture of innovation (Sustainable products)

1:08:37 - Growing leadership capacity

1:15:52 - Becoming a global brand

1:19:07 - A moving tribute to Stephen Gack

1:28:17 - Resilience mindset that searches for opportunity

1:32:40 - Embracing Covid - connecting with customers

1:41:27 - Digital adoption and supply chain adaption

1:49:52 - Personal reflections and advice for business

1:53:17 - Generosity in their local community

1:58:37 - Chasing a dream (final thoughts)



Looking for more from The Story Hub? Seasons One & Two are out now!

WE ARE BACK!! The Story Hub Season Three is finally here with the promise of 10 excellent conversations for you in 2023. 

If you want to know what’s coming up and an exciting announcement we have listen to the trailer NOW.

SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss a thing.

If you want to check out our brand new Live Smarter podcast click here for Spotify & Apple Podcasts