Bird on a Wire: 
The Inside Story From a Straight Talking CEO
Theresa Gattung
Random House $39.99

No woman has ever risen as far in the corporate world as former Telecom CEO Theresa Gattung. Her appointment, at such a young age and from the marking ranks, astounded the country, and her leadership of the big telco that Kiwis love to hate was never far from the headlines.

This no-holds-barred memoir tells of her ambition, her determination, and her rise to business power.Her publishers describe the book as being candid, engaging and inspirational  and I think that is a fair summary.
Certainly no other NZ title in recent times has gained anywhere near as much publicity as this one in the two weeks since its publication and it was therefore no surprise to learn at the book's official launch this past week in Auckland that it has already sold out and a second printing is being rushed through.

The launch, held at John Leech Gallery in central Auckland, was a most pleasant affair with an impressive array of business leaders on hand. Included among those I noticed were Rob Fyfe, Craig Norgate, Philip King, John Allen, Simon Moutter, Kevin Kenrick, John Perriam, John Goulter and Rob McCleod.

Air NZ supremo Rob Fyfe formally launched the book. He was kind enough to let me have his speech notes which appear in abridged form below the photographs.

Photo left shows, left to right, Christine Fernyhough, Rob Fyfe, Theresa Gattung and John Perriam.

Pic right - Left to right - Bookman Beattie, the author, John Allen, Annie Beattie











From Rob Fyfe's address:

I find this quite an intimidating audience to speak to – I see John Allen there who I rate as one of New Zealand’s best speakers, and of course Theresa is never short of a word or two. 

From the moment I picked up the manuscript of Bird on a Wire I was captivated by the most amazing story . . .   Bird on a Wire is vintage Theresa – it is so honest, Theresa lays herself and her perspectives bare for us all.
She does not set out to seduce the reader or to sell her point of view – she simply tells the story of one of the most fascinating business leaders in modern New Zealand times.

I first met Theresa when we worked as colleagues at the BNZ reporting to the CEO, Lindsay Pyne – we were the young blood on the Executive team, full of raw potential and ready to conqueror the world - we became known as the Pyne Clones.  Friendships are often forged out of adversity and we certainly shared some huge challenges back them.

Yet despite our two decades of friendship; Theresa is as much of an enigma to me as I’m sure she is to many of you;

·    To this day she remains one of the most brilliant thinkers I have ever met - clear, intuitive, focused, driven and incredibly efficient.

·    I Inherited from Theresa one of the most talented teams of people I have ever had the opportunity to work with. Not only had Theresa hand picked this great team of people she had established the most intense loyalty, despite working them like slaves.

·    When her mind is on a roll and she’s in full flight she’s unstoppable – I remember being in a conversation with her, probably better described as giving her a bloody good listening too – and I was desperate for a pee.  Eventually I departed her office to go to the loo.  She followed behind me continuing to describe the virtues of some new marketing campaign and how we could sell it to the rest of the Exec team.  I walked into the toilet and up to the urinal and she didn’t stop.  I thought momentarily that she had followed me in – but fortunately that was one step too far, she was just standing at the door holding it open, and continuing the conversation as though we were sitting across the table from each other at Starbucks.

·    Theresa has this great ability to leave a message on the answerphone, get to the end of the recording limit, hang-up, ring-up and carry on midsentence for as though they message has been left in one uninterrupted stream – I’ve tried to emulate that trick without success!!

But then as I read through Bird on a Wire I began to understand for the first time the tremendous price Theresa has paid for her total commitment to her career and to Telecom in particular as she pursued her goal of ensuring Telecom was the very best Telco it could be for New Zealanders, for the shareholders and for the employees. 

As I read through the Telecom years – totally enthralled, I recalled with some irony a conversation Theresa relayed to me back in 1999.  It was a conversation she had just had with one of the referees she used when she applied for the position of CEO of Telecom New Zealand.  This referee was a brilliant executive and enormous talent who was ultimately lost to New Zealand as a result of a negative political campaign which he felt undermined his professional integrity.  He challenged Theresa to think long and hard about whether she was prepared to accept the personal price she would pay and the enormous personal risks she would encounter if she was successful in her pursuit of her dream to become CEO of Telecom NZ. 

The young talented, ambitious and irrepressible Theresa Gattung was quick to say yes – that was a price she was prepared to pay.

Theresa . . . it is a genuine privilege to stand alongside you and to have the honour to launch Bird on a Wire – your bravery and honesty in writing this book in such a transparent way, the integrity and professionalism with which you tell your story, the lack of malice and judgement – which many would’ve forgiven you if you had indulged yourself – define you as an iconic New Zealand business leader and most importantly still irrepressible!!

I wish you great success with Bird on a Wire and look forward to the next chapters in the story which are yet to unfold . . .