Electricorp

"The nature of Gibbs’ involvement in Forestry Corp was similar to that of his role at Atlas, Freightways and Bendon. His style was markedly different to John Fernyhough’s, for example, who as chairman of Electricorp spent most of his working week in Wellington and operated as an executive chairman. Gibbs gave Kirkland clear direction and then limited his role to challenging, provoking and guiding — and then stepping back to allow the chief executive to do his job. After an initial burst in February and March 1986, he spent no more than two or three days a month on the task. Gibbs says he’s always been ‘very cunning at avoiding the time-consuming business of managing people or of getting sucked into detail’. As a result he was able to cover an extraordinary amount of ground in business and public service, while still retaining enough freedom to travel for as much as three months a year and to think of new schemes. When most of Gibbs’ counterparts could tell him what meeting they’d be attending in a year’s time, Gibbs worked hard to avoid commitments that denied him spontaneity. Wherever he was, in New York or Harare, Gibbs kept on top of his half-dozen work streams with a steady flow of handwritten fax messages, channelled through Jacquie Turner at the West Plaza office."

"Property ownership, he argued, was one of mankind’s most fundamental and important satisfactions, along with fundamental instincts such as love of family. People care about things they own. The state, by contrast, hardly knew what it owned. Back in 1986 Gibbs had argued that the best thing that could be done would be to give the public shares in Forest Corporation, Electricorp and the other state-owned enterprises. This would restore private motivations to these activities and keep the public engaged. He now thinks giving all citizens the right to buy at a discounted price, as Margaret Thatcher had done in the United Kingdom, would be better, since people value what they pay for."