What I’m reading – Vincent Pooch

Cantabrian Vincent Pooch CFInstD is a relationship builder who is passionate about people. A qualified engineer, early in his career he transitioned to the finance sector and in 1992 founded corporate advisory company Key Business Partners, Today he is chair of Transport Repairs Limited, Waipapa Limestone Limited, and a director of Red Bull Powder Company Limited and PharmaZen Limited.

This week, he shares what he refers to as an inspiring strategy book that every director should own.

What is the name of the governance/business book you’re reading or can recommend?

My go-to book when trying to figure out what we are trying to do strategically (and more often when we are trying to choose what NOT to do) is Understanding Michael Porter: The Essential Guide to Competition and Strategy by Joan Margretta.

Margetta was a student of Porter (well-known for his theories on economics and business strategy) at Harvard before she became strategy editor at the Harvard Business Review, then a partner at consultancy Bain & Company, before returning to academia. With Porter’s blessing, she reworked his book Competitive Strategy into a tight handbook, half the length of his captivating 1980 work.

It's the one strategy book that I believe every director should own. My copy is now unique with its multi-coloured highlighting and interleaved, long-forgotten, annotated flight boarding passes.

How would you describe the style of writing?

Unlike many academics, Joan Margretta can actually write. She communicates well, which means you can grasp the concepts easily and dip back in time and again as you try and figure out a particular challenge with Porter’s tools and ideas.

What drew you to the book?

Michael Porter’s work has inspired me for over 30 years. But his original book was a hard read – it is not in bite-sized chunks!

What resonated with you the most?

Margretta’s examples, like Porter's, are not just illustrative but inspiring and include some of my favourite companies, such as PACCAR.

What is rather special, at the end there is a 24-page section: FAQ’s An interview with Michael Porter, where he reinterprets and expands some of his ideas 40 years on. For example, “Strategy links choices on the demand side with unique choices about the value chain (supply side)”, which, to me, is ‘structure follows strategy’. 

What is something you’ve taken away from reading that now follows you into your role on boards?

This quote from Porter: “Good leaders are strategy professors, in the sense that they’re teaching strategy all the time.”

How does reading feed into your continued governance practice/learning?

Reading is essential and foundational. Musing on challenges seems to be the essence of board work for me, outside the boardroom itself – exchanging ideas from far and wide, and creating debate is something that helps to keep me grounded, while at the same time adding value by keeping others real, too.

Who should read this book and at what stage in their governance career?

Buy this for your child, niece or nephew who has just gotten their first governance role. Then, later, buy them a coffee and a date scone and discuss what they took from it.

When you’re not reading books on business or governance, what kind of books are you likely to pick up?

I know I should read more fiction, but there are too many real-life heroes to learn from.

With recent sporting excitement, I have been again drawn to The Captain Class by Sam Walker. The former Wall Street journalist analytically identifies his 16 greatest teams and then answers the question: What is the most crucial ingredient in a team that achieves and sustains historic greatness?

Spoiler alert: Two New Zealand teams in the same code make the cut!

What are some of the most pertinent governance issues at the top of mind for you currently, and why?

I am anxious about our declining national productivity. We don’t talk about it enough, we don’t measure it enough and we don’t understand it enough. Only by lifting the productivity of our capital, labour and land can we grow the pie to pay for a better life for our grandchildren. As directors, how do we best lead these conversations?

What has been the most surprising thing you’ve discovered about yourself and others while being on a board?

Over the decades, I have realised how little I really knew about the ‘art’ of governance when I started out. I have a great deal of gratitude for those older ones who gave me opportunities to learn about people, politics and process.

If there was anything you want to see more of at the board table, what would it be, and why?

Less rush. More listening. I would like to see more ‘informed’ discussion about productivity and, in particular, what strategies we can put in place to grow the business by growing people, and the 'hard’ and ‘soft’ tools they use every day. Productivity is not a bad word and doesn’t imply binary, win-lose outcomes. This too-common mind-set means that we need to think about challenges from diverse points of view to achieve durable growth that does not wreck the natural environment, locally and globally. 

If there is a book on your radar that you’d like to share, send an email to: Sonia.yee@iod.org.nz