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>>Leigh: I was running a national company which involved a lot of traveling, the head
office was in Auckland so it was almost commuting more than traveling which meant that I wasn't
getting a lot of family time. I had a very young family and my lifestyle was suffering
because of it as well, and so I decided that it was time to move on. So I looked around,
had a look at buying a number of other companies but couldn't find anything that I was really
passionate about. My intuition was saying no, quite often looking at the companies.
What I really did enjoy though, was the business side of business, and when looking at business
coaching with helping other businesses that really did appeal to me. On top of that, through
that I actually felt that I could get the lifestyle with it that I was looking for and
not have to do the traveling.
My approach is very different, when I have a look at a business and I have a look at
what it really needs now to actually move it forward and achieve what they're trying
to achieve. I don't take a prescriptive approach and start at page one and tick the boxes through
to page five hundred or whatever. When I'm looking at that I'm looking at the long term
needs of the company as well. On top of that, when I'm working with clients, I don't work
with them on a weekly basis prescribing what they need to do - I find that will just throw
them in to overwhelm eventually so I'll work with businesses usually on a fortnightly basis
or in some cases on a monthly basis. The other big area is it's actually having real world
experience to be able to bring to those businesses, and that for me comes through past experience
but also connections nationally and internationally which helps me keep in touch with exactly
what's going on with cutting edge leading business thinking.
Why Christchurch? I've lived here all my life,
I've got a very strong network of friends and business associates (although the network
does extend globally). It's a fantastic place to bring up children. For me also, it's the
center of a very large outdoor playground which is the whole of the South Island and
that suits my surfing, fishing, walking\'85 all my pursuits. And, overall I feel you just
can't beat it!