Pragmatism – to act in a practical or efficient way; to get things done, alongside openness to new ideas that can be applied and tested.

“I think that people think that a lot of things happen automatically but it doesn’t. It’s all driven … it’s all learned, and driven …”

When public speaking Doug likes to use the following quote by Joel A. Barker (2014): “Vision without action is just a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.” If Doug is to strive and to achieve solutions he cannot simply dream he must be decisive, define relevant actions, and he then must act: “I love to get stuff done. Driving it up the front and not standing around while some other bastard’s getting it done; I get in there [laughs].” The pragmatism that allows Doug to become active in the process of development led him to follow—across the years—a consistent model for opportunity selection. This includes analysis of the weaknesses and potential of an

acquisition, analysis of his team’s capability, financial modelling and discussion of the opportunity with partners, advisers, peers and mentors. However, there are two interesting tendencies in this process that, at first glance, seem to belie pragmatism:

1. The tendency to “keep it under my hat” until Doug has done considerable due diligence and analysis.

2. The tendency to understate the performance improvements targeted when presenting the opportunity for discussion.

The first tendency can make Doug’s decisions appear more spontaneous than they really are and he admits that this approach sometimes “scares the hell out of Fraser.” Fraser agrees that Doug has taken a pragmatic approach to the development of each business case, but prefers earlier discussion and formalisation of the process.

89 Doug noted that understating the projected performance of an investment can make others more wary of an acquisition: “When we bought Ruakaka I sent [my mentor] an email to say I was thinking about it and he said, ‘send me a budget’. I sent him a budget and he said, ‘oh it’s nonsense, its absolute nonsense, it’s ridiculous don’t do it’. I said, ‘I budget very conservatively’.” However, these tendencies are pragmatic to Doug as they optimise potential external reward. By quietly analysing the opportunity and ensuring he is well informed, Doug is more likely to put forward a winning idea. By maintaining a conservative approach to projections, Doug can then enjoy achieving beyond the expectations of others: “Within no time at all the place just took off, as I expected, and that just blew people away [laughs].” Doug’s pragmatism has also led him to develop the skills to identify people and develop networks that are knowledgeable enough to be valuable to both his work at Bonavaree and his new public speaking and advisory roles: “I’m just like a sponge in their company … It’s been huge for me; mixing with the right people, who have got the right information.” While Doug is open to new ideas, they must be accessible and testable in “real life”.

“The concept, or idea, of having manuals of stuff stored in vaults back in universities which nobody ever goes and has a look at except for other academics doesn’t transfer that knowledge into real life. And, ah, the work done here has now been emulated in other universities with people realising, holy hell, we’ve actually got to have a higher uptake of our knowledge discoveries. So, that’s quite exciting really. At the end of the day the canvas that you paint on and the picture that you end up with is dependent on the ability of the people to position themselves around that canvas and work it.” Doug’s pragmatism gives discipline to his decisions and ensures that he commits his energy to actions that are substantively developmental: “We don’t want to get to the stage where we start painting all of the posts white for god’s sake; which is what some people do. This pragmatism also disciplines Doug’s financial investments: I know a lot of other farmers who have, sort of, never been interested in it as a business. It’s just a farm and, you know, if the wool cheque comes in and there’s enough money to buy a new car they buy a new car. And when they’ve got it home they put it in the shed and then they realise, oh shit, there’s no money left to do any development … Those sort of slack decisions. The ill-disciplined process is right through their business and right through their lives.”

90 3. Development – To start to exist, or experience. To convert to a new purpose. To

cause to grow, mature or become more elaborate.

“The transformation that occurred, well, it was a process. It was a very developing, conscious process.

I use the word journey and people will say to me, ‘I now understand’— that it’s a process; a journey.”

Doug recalls, with great satisfaction, the development process at Glen Erin: “We spun into a massive development of things. There was excitement galore and we had people working and trucks coming in and out and we completely remodelled the place.” The work was hard, complex and required commitment to long days but it resulted in the transformation of Glen Erin: “We turned that property from being a place that everyone thought was just rubbish and no use to one of the modern farms in the district.” However, it was not only Glen Erin that had transformed. Doug’s family was now growing in influence: “That decision to buy that place made the difference between which, in this valley, was going to be the family that was going to dominate the area and get on and make something of it.” Further, working alongside his son on Glen Erin wrested Doug’s father from a long sadness he had endured: “My father had been struggling with the death of my brother, but he got excited in doing that and so did I. From ’73 through to ’79 him and I had a ball, and that was great.” The “fun and exciting” process of development continued, more broadly, at the Bonavaree properties until the mid-1990s. Although significant political and economic changes had affected business performance, Bonavaree continued to move forward. However, eight successive years of drought began in the mid 1990’s and the degree of environmental change took a heavy toll.

“I see it as being like a three-legged stool: Environmental, financial and social. As the pressure came onto our business one leg broke and the pressure on the rest of them was too great. We had no skills to adapt.” The development of Bonavaree had stalled: “I now look upon my failure, and that’s the only way to describe it, as being from my lack of understanding of the need to keep moving.” For Doug the interminable status quo he saw before him was unbearable: “I was on a bus that was taking us to bloody hell and, ah, I didn’t understand how to change that journey.” Doug was spiralling into self-destruction when he came to realise that if anything was in need of development, it was him. The “mental block bloody stuck place” Doug found himself in made him desperate to break out,

91 the answer was to find new ideas; to learn: “You learn ten times faster when you’re

desperate than what you do when you’re cruising, and when you’re absolutely cruising you don’t learn anything at all.” Doug was ready to learn, but it had to be “the right stuff”, it had to take him out of stagnation and back into the process of development. Doug’s first attempt at engaging was to join a farm discussion group but this did not deliver the new knowledge Doug needed. It was comfortable, but that made it a part of the problem.

It was the uncomfortable engagement with the “flash fellas” in the project that could, and would, work with Doug to effect real change. The next four years of learning, restoration, renewal, and development was “bloody challenging” but Bonavaree transformed: “… dramatically; environmentally, economically and socially.” Doug was back “in bloody heaven.” Bonavaree’s transformation into an award winning enterprise was mirrored by the transformation in Doug’s life: They set up a programme that transformed my life and the journey of that farm.” The focus on development remains at Bonavaree: “There’s so much passion for this business in me and I think I never realised in my life that I could go so bad, and then I never realised I could go so good. And, ah, it would be easy for us to say now that what we’ve got is enough but that seems dumb … For the likes of myself it’s almost like taking a drug. From a place from where I was so bitterly disappointed in myself to one now where I just couldn’t bear to think that we wouldn’t have some sort of constant regeneration going on.”

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