Peter Cox: "It's about respecting the past and not being frozen by it"

For the past 20 years, Cantabrian Peter Cox QSM has taken time away from the board table to immerse himself in history. For Cox, the two are intertwined. 

“A project came up to research my father's life, he had died many years beforehand, but it got me hooked,” says Cox, who this month published his third book Tunis is Mad Tonight: The Life and Times of New Zealand Journalist Douglas Brass which traverses the life of this relatively unknown New Zealander who had a long career working with the Murdoch family, renowned in Australia for building a media empire.   

The release of the book coincides with another achievement for Cox, who has recently been awarded the Institute of Directors’ top honour of Distinguished Fellow (DistFInstD). 

The award acknowledges his more than three decades of service to governance across boards for organisations such as the House of Travel group, J. Ballantyne & Co Ltd, MainPower NZ Ltd, Commodore Airport Hotel, Syft Technologies Ltd, Timberlands West Coast Ltd, Airways Corporation Ltd, Duncan Cotterill and High Performance Sport NZ. He is currently on three not-for-profit sports-related trusts.  

On the board of Christchurch’s iconic Ballantynes department store for 21 years as a chair and board member, and more broadly with experience on other family boards, he says governance in a family business means working across generations.  

“You're dealing with the founders who may be of my generation, you've got the 50-year-olds, and the 20-year-old students . . .” 

It’s that part, he says, that can create tension about what the outcomes should look like, especially regarding short-term profit and long-term sustainability.  

“If you have a family business who continually pour everything back into it because that's the way it's growing, it can cause tension between how the shareholders of the day benefit from that versus future generations, and that's another interesting challenge,” he says.   

But what also sits at the core of family governance is people – one of the drivers for Cox that has kept his hand in governance for more than three decades.  

“I enjoy working with people, particularly with the families, and working with young people and trying to do the best that I can to induct them into organisations because they have skills that I don't have, and it's a matter of merging the best of both,” Cox says.  

The latter has been important for Cox, to equip the next generation “to go onto boards and work positively, in a way that is valued because we need them”.  

“I have a tremendous respect for the knowledge, expertise and wisdom of the other directors I have worked alongside. It is important that the value of this experience is passed on and, in fact, that younger directors go looking for that.”

But Cox doesn’t shy away from the reality that governance “can have some challenges”.  

“You can’t come in thinking it's all pretty straightforward and glamorous stuff. It's not. It's actually really hard work – it's not always a comfortable place to be.” 

The discomfort comes when times are tough and Cox has experienced many ups and downs over the course of his governance career when the intangible, and seemingly impossible, events occur, leaving boards having to deal with the fallout.  

Cox looks further afield to what’s currently happening in the US and the overhaul of rules and regulations that ultimately impact business and society.  

“I wonder how a lot of boards are feeling in the USA right now and how they're going to manage their cash flow over the next three months,” he says.   

While the current political environment creates uncertainty, the speed of technological change makes long-term strategic thinking a challenge for boards, he says.

“A few years ago, I was involved with an infrastructure company, and we needed to do a new strategic plan, which we did. The challenge was that the technology in this industry was changing so fast, but infrastructure is a long-term gig.  

“Traditionally you’re planning twenty 30-40 years ahead, but how do you do a strategic plan in an environment where disruption is the new normal and what do you need to build into the plan?” 

Cox says recruitment is a major part of any strategy to ensure that “a company can pivot quickly and in a structured way when the environment changes”.  

“So again, it does come back to people. And as businesses grow, having people that are growing with the business or ensuring you are bringing people in can add value to what you've already built – it's about respecting the past but not being frozen by it.” 

Cox’s sustained career in governance comes from an ability to bring clarity to the muddiest of waters and when he speaks, it’s visible in his eyes as his mind manoeuvres in and out of ravines, darting from one topic to the next, but careful and considered.  

He can see things others might not see and, importantly, he’s unafraid to address obstacles or challenges. For Cox, the past is equally as important as the future. 

“Absolutely, things do come and go in cycles and there's very rarely something that happens that hasn't happened sometime in the past,” he says.  

Delving into history and ‘looking back’ to learn from the past is pertinent for a man who has carved out a fascinating career of his own. He says having a broad range of interests, including, for himself, writing, is important for directors.   

When asked what it means to be receiving his Distinguished Fellow award, Cox who describes himself as ‘reserved’ immediately replies: “Are you sure it's me?”  

Not that Cox has imposter syndrome, but he was once hit by a double-up of sorts – “a funny situation at an awards event. . .there was an announcement for Peter Cox to come up”.  

“Another Peter Cox walked up too! So I'm always a bit dubious these days to ask, “are you sure you’ve got the right person?” he laughs.  

So, does he have any regrets about decisions he made during his career, or things he wished he could change?  

“I have wondered from time to time, if you had had someone else other than me in this position, the company would have been more successful because I have an accounting background, and perhaps someone with more innovation or entrepreneurial flair may have been more successful in creating wealth than I was. It's a matter of balance and where the pendulum swings.”