"The managers lost sight, I felt, of their responsibilities to the workforce," Mr Hickton said.
"The union stepped in quite strongly and we ended up having the worst industrial record in the Ford world.
"It was a tough time to be in industrial relations. It coloured my view on the importance of management and staff actually maintaining good, quality relationships."
After 17 years with Ford he took an equivalent job with Honda, when the national operation was owned by the New Zealand Motor Corporation.
The Labour Government of the 1980s was making big changes and because of his HR background he was asked if he would become head of the NZ Employment Service, recently broken out of the Department of Labour.
"I thought it looked challenging fun at that stage. Unemployment was the biggest problem in New Zealand, it was running at about 13 per cent.
"It seemed to me the government was providing quite a lot of freedom in the new changes to get on and do it. So I took a big risk and took the job."
He held the role for three years and was asked to do similar with the NZ Income Support Service. With a staff of 5000 "it was quite a big job", Mr Hickton said.
With a growing reputation for organisational recovery he was made chief executive of the TAB for four years, as it moved into sports betting, before running the beleaguered New Zealand Tourism Board in 1999.
The Government was facing allegations of corruption after advertising agency Saatchi won a Tourism Board account following a 1998 dinner party which the Prime Minister Jenny Shipley and Saatchi executive Kevin Roberts attended.
"It ended up with some of the board members leaving, the chief executive left, the Minister Murray McCully was moved on, so it was a shambles really."
Mr Hickton stayed in the role for 10 years and was responsible for driving the hugely successful 100% Pure New Zealand advertising campaign.
He said he had to overcome people being "precious" regarding the many different campaigns tailored to specific countries.
"It was one of the more risky moments. I looked at it and thought, that is my view of New Zealand and my hope for New Zealand. To me it was aspirational and I thought fundamentally we are seen as being the clean, green country at the bottom of the world."
It was the first time New Zealand had one message worldwide and it is still in place for the organisation, now renamed Tourism New Zealand.
In 2010, no longer at the helm of Tourism New Zealand, he was asked by Hawke's Bay Wine Country Tourism Association chairman Sam Orton to speak at the Regional Tourism Conference in Napier, where the Hawke's Bay tourism association had rebranded its marketing as Hawke's Bay Wine Country three years earlier.
With Mr Hickton's help, Mr Orton was successful in getting Hawke's Bay Regional Council backing for a dedicated Regional Tourism Organisation with tourism operators contributing to costs.
Previously it was part of Venture Hawke's Bay, responsible for tourism promotion and regional development.
Wine Country was a brand that struck a chord and, like the Pure New Zealand campaign, should be maintained and nurtured, Mr Hickton said.
There had been rumblings to change it but he advised to "don't blink and change. Say no."
"It takes faith and perseverance and you are well on the way here in the Bay."
Mr Hickton was asked to join the board and became chairman, but Wine Country was "divisive" and dropped, thanks to a slump in Hawke's Bay tourism being a catalyst for change.
"People thought Wine Country was excluding other elements of the tourism industry.
"If there had been strong growth then people might have been a bit more relaxed about it, but we were faced with a situation where there was insufficient support across the broad range of tourism industry to keep it at strength.
"So we held onto the imagery and the style but Hawke's Bay is the ultimate brand."
He has picked up further directorships, joining the board of Park Road Post. Formerly the state-owned National Film Unit, it is owned by WingNut Films, the production company of Sir Peter Jackson.
"Then I got asked to help [Sir] Richard Taylor with the Weta Workshop site and ended up working for him for a while, putting a board together, and I am involved with the property company."
He said because he had "a bit of spare time" he was asked to work on Sir Peter's Jackson's Wellington film museum project, part of a $150 million, 1100-seat conference centre development with the Wellington City Council.
He also sits on the board of Hobbiton, a joint-venture between Sir Peter and the owner of the Matamata farm where The Hobbit films and The Lord of the Rings trilogy were filmed.
"It is massive success story. I am always asked why don't I drag it over to Hawke's Bay."
Hawke's Bay tourism has been a success story itself recently, returning to record high visitor numbers.
"The Food and Wine Classic [F.A.W.C!] festival is going from strength to strength and we plan to make it the premier experience in New Zealand. Of all of the regions Hawke's Bay can own that piece of territory.
"We are continuing our marketing campaigns and building up next year to keep pushing the cycling opportunities, the Big Easy and that sort of thing. That is our plan."
He said the potential in rocket tourism, thanks to Rocket Lab's plan to launch satellites from Mahia Peninsula, was "bigger than we all realise", being a point of difference triggering travel to both it and other attractions.
Mr Hickton recently received the tourism industry's most prestigious individual accolade, the Sir Jack Newman award, at the New Zealand Tourism Industry Awards in Auckland.
Thankfully, he enjoys his Hawke's Bay role. He said he has a strong affection for the region, having long holidayed in Hawke's Bay because he enjoyed the people, landscape and climate.
"I'm a Wellingtonian desperate for good weather. When you live here, Hawke's Bay is a bit of a magnet. It's a great lifestyle and the weather will always be better, that's just the way it is.
"My wife says to me, now don't get off the plane at Hawke's Bay and tell me how good the weather is."
