‘Be very clear about your reality’
Southern Cross chief executive Nick Astwick tells Kevin Norquay how sport, customerfocus and realism help mould his leadership style.
Until he did a bank job, Southern Cross chief executive Nick Astwick was intent on becoming a detective. Fresh out of the University of Canterbury with a bachelor of commerce in accounting and finance, the sport-mad 20-something took a job at the National Bank’s Ilam branch.
What was meant to be a ‘‘waiting pattern’’ job turned into a career, so the Detective Inspector Astwick dream was shelved, as his career in finance, banking and insurance took off.
‘‘I had this sort of weird view that I wanted to be a detective because it looked quite exciting,’’ Astwick tells the Sunday Star-Times.
He was surprised when the banking job proved to be a fun and rewarding experience.
‘‘I was a teller and a banking consultant, it was a tertiary branch, and I was serving university students and I had so much fun and learnt so much there. I was ambitious. I didn’t want to stay a teller, I wanted to take the next step and then at a ripe age – I was about 22 – I got a job looking after the deposits at the National Bank.
‘‘That was handling billions at the time. Who would give that to a 22-year-old? But I was purposeful. I was a quick learner. I had a good way, I think, with service and customers and people.
‘‘National Bank was very customer-driven. It took a really long-term view of things; it could have charged its customers twice as much, but didn’t.
‘‘Loyalty of customers was the core value driver and I learned a lot from that, to be honest. And I apply that a lot in my current role, the learnings of the National Bank way in culture and values and purpose. I love customer businesses and I enjoy the ability to deliver strategies to make organisations more relevant for whom they serve. It started as a gap, but it has turned into a career.’’
In 2017, lessons and values from National Bank, from the sport field and in offices worldwide, led to the top job at Southern Cross Health Society, a notfor-profit Friendly Society.
Even with overseas experience with investment banking company UBS Warburg and having been chief operating officer at Kiwibank, at times Astwick is touched by imposter syndrome.
‘‘I wasn’t chasing the CEO title, as such. If you don’t chase it, and you just focus on being the best you can, it’s amazing what happens. But I do feel like there are times when you think, ‘somebody’s going to figure me out’. Am I the right person for this job, or this challenge?
‘‘That’s really natural, but you certainly have got to have self-belief. I thrive in purpose-driven organisations like Southern Cross, seeking to achieve more for New Zealand and New Zealanders. I’m privileged in the fact that I have a leadership role to make that happen. If I was just doing it for the title, I wouldn’t feel like I am giving it my all, or I would feel like an imposter.’’
Harking back to university and Christchurch Boys’ High reveals the roots that shaped the Astwick tree. He had a driven Kiwi mum, a frugal Yorkshireman golfing dad, and the perfect notrich, not-poor Canterbury childhood.
‘‘I had a bloody good upbringing,’’ he recalls. Now a single-figure handicapper, Astwick played golf young, stopped for 25 years, and has returned to it at Howick, in east Auckland. In the First XI cricket team at Christchurch Boys’ High, he also loved football, and later picked up rugby.
‘‘It does sound quite cliche´ , but sport develops a competitive edge in you, this pursuit of excellence, the ability to do it with everyone else and learning how to fail. Sport is such a vehicle for life lessons about learning how to fall and then getting up off the canvas. My motivation and my intentionality come from sport.’’
His leadership? That too has been learned. ‘‘The great leaders that I’ve observed are three things: they’re very intentional, very self-aware, and they’re very reflective. Being very self-aware, particularly the CEO when a lot of people look up to you, is critical,’’ says the former chair of Leadership New Zealand, in which leaders work together for a more equitable and sustainable Aotearoa.
‘‘First, the role of the CEO is to define reality and give hope. I see that as an anchor point for me, in the role of CEO. Optimism and pessimism are both forms of fatalism ... the only currency is realism. The critical role of the leader is to be very clear about your reality, but give hope, not in terms of just nice words, but in vision, strategy, plans and to get people behind them.
‘‘The second thing is, [author, Sir] Tipene O’Regan said ‘look to the horizon, when everyone else is looking at the waves lapping at their feet’. I try to keep that view … it probably forces me to operate at 10,000 feet, rather than at one foot.
‘‘The other role of the CEO is to ensure alignment between the right strategy, the right culture and the right people. What is our strategy? Is it clear? Do the people of the organisation care about the same right things? That’s the culture. Are we hiring the right people for the culture we need? That keeps my sights set to the horizon, rather than in the detail.’’
When Covid landed, the travel insurance business within Southern Cross took a massive hit. Borders closed, travel was halted, travel insurance too. It was a time of tough decisions but the travel team navigated through the storm.
‘‘In times of challenge, you have to focus only on what you can control, it’s about calm heads … and making good choices. They might not turn out to be right choices in hindsight, but they’ve got to be
good choices at the time. On the health insurance side, we’re flying, and we’re flying because of the tight labour market and the importance of health insurance to employees. Employers are looking at their employee benefits.
‘‘A lot of New Zealanders now are investing in their health, we’ve just gone through a major health crisis, so New Zealanders are looking for more assurance. We’ve seen a big shift ... There have been some changes in perception, and what people value.’’
Personally, Astwick values time with his family. He might often start the day before 7am, but he’s generally gone by 5pm, and weekends are kept free.
‘‘I have to role-model the culture of the organisation. I believe in productivity, more than a culture of ‘the last one to turn the lights out gets promoted’. That’s not the point. So I do try to be highly productive, the best I can be and make sure I value both parts of my life. Your job does not define you.
‘‘I have a cracking leadership team, I don’t get involved in the operations day-to-day. If I am, that’s a problem. I don’t want to be a manager.’’
And he has advice to both young people starting out, and the country as a whole.
‘‘Find what gives you energy and leave what doesn’t. Work should give you energy, and you should believe in the work that you do so that you can spend the rest of your time with the people you love, your friends and those sorts of things.’’
And to New Zealand, he says it needs to look outwards and take itself to the world; we have plenty to offer, so think big.
‘‘If we do that, then we’re going to have a chance. We have pockets of excellence, but as a country we need to scale good ideas into bigger businesses and better prospects for NZ. If you look at America and Australia, they industrialise businesses very well.
‘‘We are still thinking too small. We are still thinking too internally. It’s a 10-to-20-year shift, but we can do this. Business has got a bigger role to play in New Zealand, and the Government’s got to create a supportive environment for it … at the end of the day, I don’t believe we’re creating the right settings for our long-term success.
‘‘New Zealand has to have a health and an education system that sets us up for the future. If we’re not healthy, and we’re not educated for a new world, then we don’t stand a chance.
‘‘I genuinely believe in the prosperity and potential of New Zealand. Realising this for Aotearoa NZ is what drives me.’’
‘‘Sport develops a competitive edge in you, this pursuit of excellence, the ability to do it with everyone else and learning how to fail.’’ Nick Astwick