It seems there is nothing the guy either hasn’t done or couldn’t do. Thatis not his own assessment. He is, of course, modest as well as being competent, empathetic, and endowed with outstanding leadership qualities.
He is the insider’s outsider, a private-sector accountant, fixit man and change manager who has undoubtedly been on the speed dial of every Prime Minister since David Lange.
“I think they will be feeling bruised,” he agreed with the Herald. “And I think more than half of them will be pretty cynical about ‘what will this person do and what would he know.’”
In his experience, that was pretty normal in the face of change.
Roche has been chief executive of NZ Post and chaired Waka Kotahi and the Auckland City Rail Link.
His special projects for various Governments over 35 years have included helping the Lange Government with selling assets and buying frigates, being a Crown negotiator in several Treaty of Waitangi settlements, running the 2011 Rugby World Cup, chairing the continuous review set up during the Covid crisis, and heading the recovery taskforce after Cyclone Gabrielle.
He has never had a career plan. He sees himself as a “connector” between what he calls the policy machine, the business machine and the political machine.
“I can remember being in the Old Parliament Buildings [in 1998] and ministers were negotiating and … after backwards and forwards and Tipene O’Regan leaned over and said ‘you’ve got a deal’ and everybody cried. In those moments you think, ‘Yeah this is important.’
“And similarly in the last three minutes of the Rugby World Cup final, standing on the sideline thinking not only have we won but delivered this fantastic tournament.
“Those two memories are very personal to me and incredibly satisfying.”
But they were the result of many people having a common view, a common purpose and being empowered to do it.
Sir Brian Roche belongs to no social media platform. Photo / Marty Melville
Roche barely saw any social media responses when he was named by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon as the next Public Service Commissioner.
That’s because he does not have any social media presence – Twitter, Facebook and Linked In included.
He missed the apposite post on Reddit that said: “He seems to be the ultimate grey man. Who is he? What does he believe in? What does he care about … ?”
“Just to pick up the grey, I am a trained accountant,” said Roche. “Some would suggest that is the colour of accountants.
“But what do I believe in? I do believe really strongly in giving back. I was brought up very much in a household, in an education system that said if you could help others it was your obligation to do so.”
Not that he feels the new job is an obligation. “But I do feel very strongly that this is an opportunity for me to contribute to outcomes for New Zealand.”
Roche was raised in Napier in a large family and bussed daily to St John’s College in Hastings. He was near the tail end of his six sisters and one brother and was the first to go to university, Victoria.
“I was brought up a Catholic, in a strong Catholic education system and part of that is social justice and fairness and equity,” he said. “That is what drove me into dealing with the public sector and [dealing] with the Treaty settlements process. Both of those things really resonate with me.”
So what would get him in the street to protest?
“I’m probably too shy to protest and arguably too small because I get squashed in big crowds. It is not something I have ever done.”
He did not protest during the Springkbok Tour in 1981 but he and his wife made a conscious decision not to watch any of the games and left for their OE to London shortly after the Waikato game.
“I thought it was the wrong decision for this country yet the event itself has created a maturing of New Zealand when people were required to stand up for what they believed in.”
He later worked on the bid to secure the Rugby World Cup and he took over Rugby NZ 2011, the company that ran the tournament after ill-health forced Jock Hobbs to step down. Roche also chaired the Hurricanes board for seven years.
“Being involved with rugby has exposed me to some great leaders and I’ve learned from them. I think of Brian Lochore, I think about Tane Norton, I think about Richie McCaw and Conrad Smith.
“You look at the way they conduct themselves and their ability to achieve something greater than themselves and I think that is the essence of leadership.”
So does he have a philosophy of leadership?
“To the extent I have a philosophy of leadership, it is around the leader being the catalyst for the achievement of others, so being able to use your skills, your talents, your influencing ability to get others to achieve things they might otherwise not have done,” he said.
“I don’t see leadership as being overly hierarchical – ‘I’m the top so therefore I’m the cleverest in the room.’ I see it as quite the opposite. Your leadership is an opportunity for you to achieve things through others and that is the leadership style I have adopted and which I will bring into this role.”
Sir Brian Roche said running is good for his introversion. Photo / Marty Melville
The Public Service Commissioner will lead a public service of about 63,500 full-time equivalents when he starts on November 4. That is 2162 fewer across 39 departments and agencies than in the previous six months. Spending cuts of $6 billion over four years were made in the first Budget and in what is expected to be a permanent state of restraint.
The position became vacant in March when long-serving former commissioner Peter Hughes retired. He was appointed under the John Key Government in 2016 and served the Labour-led Government as well. He ran a very tight ship. He had a command and control style and was seen as risk-averse.
It is not hard to see why the new Government wanted someone with Roche’s skills. It needed a change manager because of the fundamental shift – it wants to deliver more with less.
It wanted someone who could meld the efficiencies and accountability of the private sector with the professionalism and ethics of the public service.
But it needed someone who was politically neutral, and if they were an outsider, they had to know how it worked on the inside, who would respect the public sector and have that respect returned.
In some ways, it was tailor-made for Roche, a proven leader but an understated one who knew the public service inside out but was not captured by it.
The job was advertised for almost a month in February and garnered 13 expressions of interest, but none from Roche. The search went on, others were sounded out.
Roche, who turned 69 in August, was winding down his work commitments when he got the call in July from Willis asking him to think about the Public Service Commissioner’s role. So long as Roche was not ruling it out, the Government was patient with him. Roche describes the process as a bit like trout fishing.
In the end, only two candidates were interviewed, one being Roche. But before the deal was sealed, Roche did his own due diligence to ensure he had the support of coalition partners Winston Peters, David Seymour and Shane Jones.
Jones is one the few people who has criticised Roche – last year, before Jones was re-elected to Parliament. Criticising the Tupu Tonu investing group for Ngāpuhi that Roche chaired, Jones said it had fallen into the hands of “numpties” who seemed to be tone-deaf” or “largely inept”.
Sir Brian Roche when he was part of the continuous review of the Government's response to the Covid-19 crisis. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Roche got the all-clear and the announcement was made shortly after he confirmed. So much was he wanted by the Government that he was allowed a contract for two years and 8 months for a role that would normally be four.
He understands what is expected but has not been given specific riding instructions.
“I have the luxury of not having been told in an appointment process to go and find X per cent of efficiency or headcount. It is actually ‘we want to improve the productivity and effectiveness; we need to improve the performance’.”
To give practical effect to that, he could only do it through the chief executives and so meeting them to talk about the issues was his first priority.
He is the employer of about 40 core public service chief executives but is also the leader of the wider public sector agencies.
The efficiency of the public sector was very important for social and economic reasons because it made up such a large portion of the economy, he said.
“It is not a difficult message in the context that every business in New Zealand, bar none, has got the same challenges at the moment.
“The public sector is no different. What we have to do is work out what we are really good at, what we can excel [at] and make improvements.
“The chief executives know there is a need and they have a strong desire to get better,” he said.
“Part of my role is to work out what are the things we are going to do to achieve those improvements and what are we going to do to achieve the productivity and performance that the Prime Minister and others are seeking.
“I am not daunted by that. We have to do it clinically and quickly.”
And how will success be measured?
“I haven’t got a shrink-wrapped answer for you actually on what that is,” he said.
“But within that period of time, I believe and have every confidence that we can change the trajectory of what we are doing.”
He has no doubt he is physically fit enough for the job. He runs about three times a week – between seven and nine kilometres at a time – and says it is good for his introversion.
He has been told he performs well in a crisis.
“I have the luxury of an extremely low heart rate. I had a test yesterday and it [his heart resting rate] was 42.
“In a crisis, I tend to just get very analytical about ‘what’s the current situation and what are our options?’ and not be overly emotional about it.
“Leadership through a crisis is really important for people to observe because if you are losing your head, they are not going to perform very well.
“I like to consider I am very calm, measured but very clear about what is going to happen.”
