Strength shown at the helm during crisis
Last year was undeniably turbulent for businesses. Otago Daily Times Business Leader of the Year Tony Allison talks to business editor Sally Rae about getting through it.
‘‘DON’T move on too quick.’’
That is the message from Dunedin businessman Tony Allison as the curtain falls on 2020 — a year in which the ‘‘Ferris wheel just stopped’’, as he succinctly puts it.
People needed to remember the lessons learned during the year, including the rhetoric about supporting local businesses and he promised he would ‘‘keep banging on that drum’’.
When people said they would support local, they needed to follow that through with actions, and that applied to supporting all local businesses, he said.
Ask the enigmatic 44yearold to sum up what the unprecedented year meant for him and he does not hesitate: ‘‘challenging, invigorating, soulsearching and fullon’’.
It was almost like a year of two halves — the first part going about normal business and then Covid19 hit ‘‘and absolutely took over my life’’.
All his governance roles were affected — some in a fairly major fashion, such as Dunedin Airport where he has chaired the board of directors for just over two years.
He became chairman of Otago Polytechnic’s board on April 1, during the nationwide Alert Level 4 lockdown, while his director’s role at Smiths City morphed into a handson position as he helped save a 102yearold retailer. He is also a director of Delta.
Mr Allison joked that the catchphrase at his home during lockdown was ‘‘are you hungry again Dad?’’, which was the only time his family heard from him.
Other than that, he was either on the phone or in a Zoom meeting, doing 100 Zoom calls in the first three weeks of lockdown — until, he acknowledged, he was all Zoomed out.
Smiths, which he joined about four years ago as a director, occupied much of his time, as he initially committed to helping out shortterm.
The furniture and electronics retail chain was sold to investment company Polar Capital, owned by Colin Neal, founder of refrigerated logistics company Big Chill, in May for $60 million and was placed into receivership to hasten the sale.
Since then, it has undergone a rebranding, refreshing its look, as it moved to revive the brand. The company was founded in Christchurch in 1918.
In the space of six months, seven stores were closed, one was moved and three stores opened.
Mr Neal essentially saved 350 jobs, and that was Mr Allison’s ‘‘modus operandi’’ — saving jobs at a business which was an ‘‘iconic part of New Zealand’’.
If the deal did not get over the line, then it would have been liquidation, and he did not want to see that happen.
Coming up with a new strategy and a new brand and ‘‘doing things a million miles an hour’’, very few knew that he had only committed to four months helping out.
But Mr Neal was a ‘‘good guy’’, it was a good company to work for and, as managing director now, he was ‘‘in boots and all’’ and was not going anywhere.
‘‘I’m loving it,’’ he said.
It was the people and the challenge that were the key factors, and it also felt like ‘‘the right thing to do’’.
‘‘We just had to make decisions and get on with it which is what we did,’’ he said.
That included taking over the former Kmart space in the Meridian Mall in September.
The company was based in Christchurch and Mr Allison, who continued to live in Dunedin, did a lot of travelling, but he was also working that out.
‘‘It’s just my rhythm. It comes down to having a rhythm,’’ he said.
Among all the Smiths work, there were also his other governance obligations, particularly for the polytechnic and airport. It was fortunate they had very capable people at the helm, he said.
The polytechnic did a ‘‘magnificent’’ job in terms of its online teaching, while seeing the images of an empty airport, with the lights out, was ‘‘grim’’.
‘‘I felt for the team, they did an awesome job,’’ he said.
When it came to the Covid19 response, Mr Allison said New Zealand also did a great job, with its oftquoted team of 5 million.
But so many people were under so much stress, and that had taken its toll. What people went through differed, but there was one common theme — people were now needing a rest.
It brought any problems in businesses to the fore and demanded that they be dealt with. Longterm, that was hopefully a good thing.
The flipside to those that endured a terribly tough year was that a lot of businesses had a good year, including in Dunedin.
Mr Allison believed Dunedin ‘‘turned a corner’’ a few years ago, and a lot of people were very proud now about how good the city was.
While there was much focus on the Dunedin Hospital build, and no doubt that was a catalyst to bringing some positivity, there was also a whole lot of other good stuff going on.
Mr Allison was passionate about the city in which he had spent most of his life. A former head boy at King’s High School, he studied politics and accounting at the University of Otago before working in Deloitte in Dunedin for four years.
He then spent three years working in London, where his main role was finance director of a law firm which comprised 75 partners and 500 lawyers.
However, when he and his wife Rosalind decided to start a family — they have three daughters aged 10, 12 and 14 — they decided London was not the place to bring up children and returned to Dunedin.
MR Allison spent six years commuting to Milton to work for Calder Stewart, starting as finance director and working through to chief operating officer.
He was later chief executive of Night ‘n Day Foodstore Ltd — another Dunedin success story — founded by his uncle and aunt Andrew and Denise Lane.
He left two years ago and did consultancy work, which had highlighted to him some of the city’s unsung business success stories.
Mr Allison was feeling positive about 2021 — ‘‘it can’t get any worse, can it?’’
At Smiths, the postCovid19 retail ‘‘sugar rush’’ continued, particularly for products such as beds, couches and kitchen appliances such as ovens and dishwashers.
As people spent so much time at home during lockdown, they were now investing back into their homes.
He believed that would normalise in 2021; ‘‘I don’t think there’ll be as much of a sugar rush, I don’t expect a big dip either. It’s going to just go well is probably the word,’’ he said.
The company’s new brand would find its niche and people would understand — and appreciate — it was 100% New Zealandowned.
Covid19 had caused a reset of a lot of things and there were many lessons that should not be lost, including the importance of family and connections.
There was also the rise in the use of technology, which had enabled people to work from home — and for Mr Allison to continue to work from Dunedin.
There were different conversations too at governance level; the prospect of a catastrophic event occurring and shutting businesses — and the country — down, would previously not have been imagined by many. Now, there were discussions about risk management for such events occurring again.
While noone knew what was around the corner, Mr Allison had no doubt there would be enough challenges in 2021 to keep him busy.
But he was also looking forwards to taking a break in the small Waitaki Valley township of Duntroon where his family had holidayed for many years.
Swimming in the school pool, cycling and a few rounds of golf at the Tokarahi golf course were all on the agenda.
❛ We just had to make decisions and get on with it which is what
we did