Bloomfield enjoys speaking engagements

Former director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, pictured at right, has been dabbling in paid and pro bono speaking engagements ahead of his next career endeavour, which he expects will be made public in the coming weeks.

The public health doctor became a familiar face in Aotearoa during the darkest days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Over the coming weeks, Bloomfield will be speaking at Ryman Healthcare retirement villages in Auckland, where he will talk about his 30-plus-year career and the challenges faced along the way. His speaking engagements are organised by Celebrity Speakers, which describes Bloomfield as having ‘‘the ability to relate to any audience’’ with a ‘‘warm and empathetic style’’. ‘‘He can speak on topics such as: leading through challenge and uncertainty; values-based leadership; managing stress and anxiety; looking after your wellbeing and mental health; decision-making and communication; accountability; creating teams that thrive; and leading with kindness, compassion and humility.’’ Bloomfield studied medicine at Auckland University and specialised in public health, with a keen interest in non-communicable disease (diseases that are not spread between people, but rather caused by unhealthy behaviours such as cancer and heart disease). Prior to his 2018-2022 stint as directorgeneral, Bloomfield worked at the World Health Organisation in Geneva in 2011. From 2012, he worked in senior positions at the Wairarapa, Capital and Coast and Hutt Valley district health boards, the latter two as chief executive. Since his departure from the Ministry of Health in July, Bloomfield has enjoyed some time off to ‘‘decompress’’.

One of the things Bloomfield has enjoyed during his time off is continuing with the speaking engagements he started doing in late 2020, when his popularity had boomed. Bloomfield added that he does not consider himself a prominent New Zealander but ‘‘well known’’. ‘‘I became visible on the public stage because of the unique circumstances of Covid.’’

Bloomfield learnt about leadership throughout his career and tried to apply these lessons through the most challenging parts of Covid. Since then, people have been interested to hear about his experience. ‘‘I am really happy to share that.’’ He particularly enjoyed inspiring young people to embark on their own leadership journeys, getting a feel of common issues faced by the private sector and learning from others during question time at the engagements. ‘‘You get really interesting ideas from people.’’

Bloomfield would not say what he is paid for his speaking work, citing commercial sensitivity, but said he did not charge for every event.

‘‘I have and will continue to make myself available to speak at charity and fundraising events, pro bono.’’

Ryman Healthcare spokesperson David King said it ran a regular speaker series for its residents and thought Bloomfield would make an interesting addition to the programme. Epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker had also featured in the series. ‘‘We think [Bloomfield’s] perspective on the Covid pandemic and what happens next will be really interesting for everyone,’’ King said.

‘‘I think everyone appreciates all the work he did to try and minimise the impact of Covid during his time as director-general of health.’’

Bloomfield said he had a pretty clear idea of what he wants to do next. ‘‘I am seeing the next part of my career as moving beyond health and public health,’’ he said, adding that he was interested in leadership, public policy and public service development.