LIMITACIONES DEL ESTUDIO

“I think about what I could do with [the property], then make as much as I can into great land; so that’s the conceptual part. But when I get into it, it actually changes … you do a little bit of it

73 For Peter, the process of development is both conceptual and tactile; and in this his

pragmatism is closely linked to both his perfectionist striving and development. However, making his businesses the focus of this striving and offering himself, as resource, to his own vision was catalysed by a painful realisation. In the early 1990’s Peter realised that, to some people, he was more a resource than a person. Peter’s desire to be valuable had led to situations that felt personally exploitative: “People would stop in and say ‘got any good ideas today Peter?’ Then take my good ideas and buggar off without so much as a thank you.” The time had come for Peter to commit his energies to the development of his own goals. Peter’s first step was to isolate himself, welcoming into his life only those for whom relationships are “a two way street”: “It was hard. And I think probably the easiest way to manage it, and the way I’ve managed it, is to shut myself out. I find it very hard to let myself get close to people now; very hard. And, um, there was a time when I actually stopped answering the phone in the weekend because every time someone rung it wasn’t to say ‘gidday Peter, come out for a beer’, or, ‘come ‘round for tea’. It was, ‘Peter, can I borrow …?’ There was an enormous amount of that.”

Peter related to me, in confidence, some of the distressing situations that led to his disheartenment. Peter’s social world became much smaller and he began to recognise the importance of reciprocity: “The people you find you can have a longer term relationship with, you find it’s more of a two way street. I’ve got hundreds of colleagues now, but only a handful of friends. I think my wife and I, we could count our real friends on one hand. And that’s one of the costs, I suppose, of being in business” [stated with sadness]. While the disheartenment that led to Peter’s self-isolation was painful, “living off the land” with his wife and children, his “tight circle of friends”, and his work “sculpting” Kaiuma gave Peter a new focus. Peter began to focus on what he could envision and develop: “Kaiuma was very, very derelict. It was a hell of a mess. I bought a bulldozer and went down there and I cleared about fifty hectares of land and basically learned how to drive a bulldozer; I loved it.” Peter’s new focus on development led to the deer farm at Kaiuma winning an

environmental award and becoming a premier supplier of genetics, venison and velvet. By the late 1990’s Peter was ready for another challenge and he and his wife decided it was “time to head back to town.”

Peter began the process of vineyard development, focused first on cheap, low quality land that was perceived in the general market to be too problematic for vineyard development.

74 Peter believed that with fresh thinking and hard work such land—like Kaiuma—could be made arable and valuable. This began with the land Peter purchased in the lower Wairau where he faced, not just land development challenges but also supply chain problems: “I got [the property] at a time when you had a three year wait for the nurseries to supply grape vines because there was such strong demand. I managed to scrounge enough plants to plant these twenty hectares by using seconds. Some of them were totally knackered but the vast percentage just had bent stems which, if you planted them the right way, didn’t make any difference. So I managed to get that vineyard up and built using seconds with all sorts of clones. I had no choice. It was pretty bloody rude and crude, but we got it knocked up and today it’s one of our best producing vineyards.” The grapes and wine produced from the vineyard were providing a “better than expected” return on investment so Peter moved on to develop more vineyards. Peter’s idea was that by alternating between leasehold land and purchase he could acquire and develop more problematic land that suited his vineyard development process.

“One of [these opportunities] was developing a large vineyard up Northbank. It was terrible. It was hewn out old willow beds. It was matagauri20 and willow and gorse and broom, and lots of old river courses. I entered into an arrangement to lease that for a peppercorn rental for a few years and then get into market rental gradually. Before I started up there I bought some adjoining land because I knew once I started and got into it that land would appreciate in value, you know, value that I’d created myself. So I ended up with about three hundred and fifty hectares of land and I spent a good year developing it like no other vineyard in Marlborough would have ever been done because it was just thousands of cubic metres of stuff to be shifted. It was old swamps. It was one hell of a mess.” Peter learned, at Northbank, that he did not have to hold and manage the vineyard to make money, as he had in the lower Wairau: “I built a terrific vineyard. Put on a lot of grape mark21 compost and built these beautiful ponds. And the idea was that at some point I was going to build a restaurant up there. I had grand ideas. I had the place nearly finished when I was approached by a real estate agent. He said, ‘hey Peter, you’ve been doing a lovely job here, I’ve been admiring it, I’ve got some friends from Australia and they wondered whether you’d sell it?’ I says, ‘no, not a show. I haven’t even finished it’.”

20 _{Matagauri (discaria toumatou) is a thorny plant that is endemic to New Zealand.} 21

Grape mark is the leftover skins and stalks and the waste from when grapes are crushed for their juice. In 2014, it is added to sawdust, bark and mussel shells to make organic compost for the estate.

75 The real estate agent kept “picking away” at Peter, and Peter gave careful consideration to the offer finally deciding it was best to sell: “I thought, here’s an opportunity, I’ve got someone really wanting it and in the end I came up with a price that was absolutely fantastic. There was about [withheld] million dollars profit in it after all my costs had been taken out and I thought with that sort of money I could go and do the same thing over and over again, and multiply.” Peter now had enough capital to choose a piece of desirable, arable land—though still not considered right for vineyards—in a location that he “loved” at Seaview. Though it was some time before he could take possession and begin

development, he continued developing other land while he waited: “For once in my life I had no debt and a pocket full of money and I remembered coming out to Seaview. So I found a property, which is just opposite from the winery and I negotiated and bought that but I couldn’t get immediate possession. I had to wait a year. And whilst I was waiting I went and bought a bit of land at Riverlands. That was a shitty bit of land that was filled up with several peoples junk. Builders had it for a yard and there were horses and it was a real mess. But anyway we tidied that up and that became about an eleven hectare vineyard; I planted it all in Savvy22.”

Peter then began his development at Seaview. Sculpting the land, and guided by GPS technology to ensure consistency in the vine rows, Peter worked “night and day, seven days a week” until the vineyards were complete. By 2005 Peter was ready for new challenges and he began planning for the development of the Kaiuma subdivision, then in 2006 planning began for the development of a winery at Seaview. Kaiuma subdivision was a complex development: “To make Kaiuma work from a customer point of view we needed to try to shorten the route into Kaiuma. I had to spend about a million dollars widening out the Kaiuma Bay Road, so a hell of a lot of money, about two and a half million dollars to try and improve the access to get into Kaiuma and, anyway, it’s done now.” Peter sold the Kaiuma housing estate in December 2013. The winery development was completed “without a hitch” in 2008. While there are substantial development plans to expand the current winery, Peter’s focus (at the time of these interviews) was on smaller vineyard and winery development projects (both ecological and business related) and on preparation for capital-raising, supply arrangements and succession planning to support the winery’s next growth phase.

76 4. Meaningful Reward – rewards that Peter believes are important and valuable. They

can be both defined and measured and thus when achieved are validating. “The more of a challenge it is, the more it is worth achieving.”

Peter’s pragmatism ensures that he is resourceful, embraces and tests new ideas, and achieves developmental outcomes. Those outcomes are the rewards that Peter believes are important and valuable. As his overall focus, financial and knowledge resources have changed across time, the type of reward Peter pursues has broadened: “Money is

important, Amanda, but in the end it’s not all about money; there’s got to be more.” Peter pursues both internal and external reward: (1) internal reward, being inward or internal return that is gained as a result of the work done (such as positive emotion), and; (2) external reward, being external recompense or return that is gained as a result of the work done (such as economic gain). However, there are changes in emphases in the latter half of Peter’s career. Peter has become more focused on internal reward than previously, and on external rewards that are objectively measured. Peter describes this change as, “just an evolution.” In terms of internal reward Peter currently emphasises self-development as an important focus for reward. I define self-development as a process of change, where one begins to experience one’s life differently; or where one is caused to grow, or mature. Self- development was not an emphasis in Peter’s early life. Although he was a competent learner and found some challenges “fun and interesting” when he left school at fourteen he was focused on external reward; primarily, to be valued by others.

It was the disheartenment that Peter suffered, during the 1990s that stimulated a change in focus. He could no longer sustain a life in pursuit of the subjective approval of others. A new sustainable existence began, woven into the development of both man and land, at Kaiuma. As he moulded and shaped Kaiuma Peter had “time to think”, and the natural environment of Kaiuma moulded and shaped him: “We got a really good appreciation of nature’s gifts, I suppose. We had falcons at our door, totally fearless of humans. You’d climb to the top of a hill and kakas would be perched a metre away from you; you felt like reaching out and touching them. We had tuis and bellbirds all around the house and we saw some marvellous events and learned how intelligent birds are. It was a real

awakening.” The space Peter and his wife created at Kaiuma centred on their little family, and only their most trusted friends and colleagues joined them there: “It was in a circle of friends at that time.” In terms of external reward Peter currently emphasises four areas of

77 reward for which he seeks objective evidence of success: self, business, social and

environmental development. These are related in that the latter three are used, by Peter, as evidence of his self-development. While the opinions of others are still important to Peter, he has increased his focus on measurable evidence as he has found that subjective evaluations of others are not always consistent or valid.

Since the early 1990s, in order to lessen the harmful effects of potentially invalidating relationships, Peter has changed his approach to external reward. First, he self-isolates more: It tends to make you a bit more reclusive, and the more reclusive you are the less you hear and the less hurt you get. And, second, he seeks objective and measurable external rewards that he can rely upon to validate his progress. Peter sets himself personal

challenges that can be objectively measured and experiences a sense of reward when these challenges are met and he achieves well. The bigger the challenge, the more rewarding it is for Peter to achieve it: “I’ll pick up opportunities that others in the business find too hard and I see that as a challenge. I managed to salvage and pick up an opportunity and foster it that has led us to our biggest market in the United States. That was bloody near-an

impossible task. And I’ve also done the same, but it took me three years to do it, with a client in Germany. The German’s are very loyal, they don’t chop and change. They were eight years with their previous supplier. It’s more of a victory because it’s our single biggest customer now and it’s one that’s come through, you know, an impossible situation and to me that’s pretty valuable.”

In relation to business development the creation of something new, such as the vineyards and the winery, and then to growing it in size and complexity is very rewarding for Peter. The activity is validating in that something that did not exist at all prior to his efforts, can be seen to exist from his efforts. The process of continually innovating, improving, and

perfecting is then carefully monitored through audits, awards and financial measures: “This is a private company and we have the biggest wage bill now of any company in

Marlborough. Even bigger than the local Council, so it’s touching on [withheld] million bucks. That’s a lot of money. But not many people know it and that doesn’t worry me; I’m not out to try and skite23, but it is a good wee plus for Marlborough. We’ll turn over [withheld] million bucks this financial year and I don’t think there’s any other locally based operations that do that, only multinationals.” In relation to social development, being involved in aspects of social development is important to Peter. Peter’s focus on social

78 development emphasises his family and employees, and then embraces wider community. Peter’s family are very private people, who “live very frugally and simply.” However, providing for his family and keeping them close is rewarding for Peter. Peter is proud of his marriage of close to fifty years and it is also an important aspect of reward that their children and grandchildren are close by.

Peter’s team are also important to him and to ensure that he is performing well as an employer Peter seeks objective validation in the form of audits and awards: “I’ve got a terrific team. I reckon I’ve got the best team in the country and, um, I say that because we’ve enter into the Kennexa24 best workplace for the last two years, and we’ve been finalists in the last two years and I hope we’re about to do a third one. My aim is to win.” Peter finds it particularly validating when employees remain with him for a long period of time: “All of the important people here have been here a long time and they’re all

immensely loyal and they tell me that’s the reason why they’re here; and I guess if it wasn’t some might go. But no, I’m very lucky.” Away from family and work Peter is a very shy individual who struggles with the visibility and accessibility that his business requires, especially at the community level: “I would prefer to go down town and not be, um, what’s the word, bailed up25 by anyone. But I have trouble now and my wife gets astonished at the amount. I can’t go anywhere. And for someone that’s not outgoing, I don’t like it to be honest. But not many people realise it, you know, they don’t appreciate how hard it is.” Peter’s preference is to live a very private life when not at work; however, he is committed to supporting others through his businesses.

Peter, his wife and the businesses sponsor many community and national organisations and events such as Oxfam, art exhibitions and galleries, music festivals, sports groups, local schools, successful young New Zealanders, Kiwi sustainability missions and even a Crowd- grown feast26. A final aspect of development that is important for Peter relates to the natural environment. Kaiuma was a life changing experience that affected the way Peter relates to the natural environment at a deeply personal level. While Peter admits that achieving sustainability is a complex learning process, the estate is recognised nationally and internationally for, not only sustainability, but an innovative approach capable of

24

IBM Kennexa Best Workplace Survey and Awards

25 _{“Bailed up” means to waylay someone for a purpose, usually to extract something from them.} 26

Peter does not like to discuss these as “I don’t want to skite or anything”; information on the sponsorships was therefore obtained by the researcher via an internet search limited to the twelve months to August 2014.

79 providing world leading processes and technologies. Peter describes his relationship with