Campbell, 68, has been made a companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to governance and business.
He chairs retirement village operator Summerset Group, Tourism Holdings and SkyCity and believes the award is recognition of his role in helping encourage change in business attitudes across key areas.
These include improving leadership diversity - gender, ethnic and those with disabilities, promoting sustainability as a core value and working to reduce inequality.
"Those are three things I've tried to make a part of the organisations I lead. Hopefully we're making some progress on that and this [honour] is encouragement for me and others to keep that movement going," he told the Herald.
The former Distribution Workers Federation leader and Federation of Labour executive member recognised early the need for a collaborative approach between unions and employers but he says there is lingering suspicion among some of his peers about his organised labour routes.
He says that his career has been a "long trip from a comrade to a companion. I do occasionally meet people who think I'm some kind of subversive agent from the past.''
Among his generation of business leaders there are "very large numbers" that are inclined to look backwards because the past suits them.
"I spend as much time as I can talking with younger people in business in various sorts of roles and my impression is that the future leadership of business gets this. The issue is will my generation change or get out of the way?"
Rob Campbell says the tourism industry needs strategies to avoid ruining pristine spots. Photo / Supplied
They needed to be enablers of change or step aside.
His union background has been a mixed blessing in his current roles.
A group of SkyCity workers have been involved in a bitter dispute over penal rates this year and while his union background gave him insight into the processes involved and the effect on staff, it also worked against him.
''I think it can arguably inflame the situation - people might feel there is hypocrisy involved. Who knows there might be - I try to avoid that,'' he said.
He acknowledges the companies he chairs are in sectors where pay can be low. "There is quite a lot of work going on quite positively among the leadership in each of those businesses to resolve those issues.''
While business models couldn't be completely disrupted there was some progress on the base levels of pay in each of those industries "and most of our staff and most of the unions involved recognise that".
SkyCity and Tourism Holdings were prominent in a sector that was increasingly under scrutiny for its impact on the environment.
''I think we're only at the start of finding out what tourism of the future will be like. It simply can't be like the tourism of the past with dependency on fossil fuels and large numbers of people visiting pristine locations and destroying them," Campbell said.
"The first step is recognising there's a problem, the second step is getting organised and committed to do something about it."
SkyCity faces a challenging year following the fire at the International Convention Centre in October.
Rob Campbell says the fire damaged convention centre will become a great national asset. Photo / Michael Craig
''We have ended the year with Fletcher Building and the Government confident we can get it back on track. There is a delay but the convention centre will be built and be a fantastic national asset."
He said those involved would have a better idea of what the building programme would be in February.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s he worked as an economic consultant and was a director of a number of wholly or partially state-owned enterprises, including the establishment of the board of New Zealand Post, Bank of New Zealand, and the Government Printing Office.
In the late 1980s he moved into business as a director and investment manager for a number of organisations, notably Freightways Ltd and Tappenden Holdings. From 2000 he moved fulltime into a wider governance career.
In 2017 he was the Deloitte Top 200's chairman of the year and won the Zealand Shareholders Association, Beacon Award for a willingness to speak out on issues "without fear or favour", citing his comments advising directors not be tick-box governors, manage the managers, and, criticising the limited imagination of some boards and a disconnect between reality and how bankers and other finance professionals are remunerated.
The honours citation said nearly every company he has chaired since that time has seen substantial growth in performance, shareholder returns, employee engagement levels, and wider recognition in New Zealand society.
