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