The thought of the "R’’ word — aka retirement — does not sit particularly well with Dame Wendy Pye.
The publishing doyenne might be 81 this month but there appear to be few signs of her slowing down particularly when, as she says briskly, there is a job to be done. "R is for retirement and R is for rusty and rusty brains are not my scene,’’ she says down the phone from Auckland.
That job is a big one and it involves another R word. Making sure that children get to school every day — "once we get them to school, we can do some marvellous things’’ — and that they learn to read.
For those not regularly at school, then it was about identifying the barriers preventing them getting there and finding solutions. Need a minibus for transport? Then provide one, the formidable businesswoman says.
Her definition of success? A person being able to do what they really wanted to do and being able to achieve something. And if they could read, then they felt good about themselves and they could "do anything in life’’.
From a small train station in Western Australia, where she boarded a train with $34 and a suitcase to being at the helm of multimillion business, her own journey through life stemmed from a determination to be successful.
Within 24 hours of being made redundant in 1985, Dame Wendy set herself the goal of creating life-changing literacy tools and started on a path to building a global education empire.
Sunshine Books, with the motto of teaching the world to read, began in an old house in South Auckland with a small team which gathered some of the best authors and illustrators.
They ran workshops and analysed books that made a difference to reading success. They looked at why some books did not work and explored all aspects of what made a book one that would help any child to read.
Since its inception, Sunshine Books has sold 300million books around the world, mainly aimed at children aged from 4 to 10. It recently published a 180-title decodable programme, reflecting the latest literacy research.
Dame Wendy was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1994 for services to export. A decade later, she was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame, the first living woman to be recognised.
In 2006, she was chosen as one of the 100 outstanding achievers from Australia for education and literacy. In the 2013 New Year Honours, she was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business and education. The following year, she won the business entrepreneur category at the New Zealand Women of Influence Awards.
Dame Wendy recently published her autobiography, tracing her journey from a rural upbringing in the outback of Western Australia, to working with world leaders and to the refugee camps of Lebanon.
She dismisses the early chapters on her upbringing, saying she wrote it to help young people aspiring to create a business. Had she had such a book when she embarked on her career, it would have saved her "millions’’.
The book outlined where she went wrong and the mistakes she made and it was full of ideas and practical help plus a portion from the sale of each book was being given to charity.
Asked what she wanted to do as a young girl, she laughed: "I wanted to run everything, I was bossy. I wanted to get out to the world and confront everybody’’.
A farming background was useful in that women played an equal part within the farming business. While she could still whip up a batch of scones, farm children did not see definite role models — "they see nothing’s impossible. Their mums get up in the morning and help with the sheep’’.
Her own mother was a strong woman who told her daughters that nothing was impossible, but that they also had to go out and make it happen.
She learned to survive. New Zealand was traditionally known for the likes of its sheep, milk and fish — "and a few carrots and onions thrown in’’. It was not known for being leading-edge in education.
That made it much more difficult. "I’ve just had to walk up and down streets, climb stairs and through a window. It’s difficult to pioneer in some ways. That’s OK, that’s a challenge, that’s not a complaint.’’
Ask her what drives her and Dame Wendy laughs: "Probably madness’’. But seriously, it was the opportunity to work internationally while she had the personal capabilities.
"I love export, I love working with people across the globe who have a common goal, an ethical goal to help children to achieve skills. If you can read, you can do anything in life. While I’m still fit and well, to a degree, I can help people across the world achieve some results.’’
Closer to home and she is frustrated. Education in New Zealand needed a plan — "a bold plan, a big plan’’ — and a plan that involved private enterprise and the government working together.
If every child in New Zealand could read by the age of 8, then that would solve a huge issue with the next generation. But that was not the case and that was why a collaborative solution was needed, Dame Wendy said.
The New Zealand Curriculum is being refreshed in a phased approach; schools and kura must use the refreshed mathematics and statistics and English learning areas from the start of next year. They will have until the beginning of 2027 to start using the fully refreshed curriculum.
Curriculums were important but it was the content and resources used that was critical, along with the training of teachers. What Dame Wendy wanted was some respect for what she had achieved and a seat at the table to collectively look at solutions.
There were "all sorts of partnerships’’ in other industries so why not education? "It’s really quite sad even, I have to talk about this. What is wrong with private enterprise?’’
But don’t think the snub has deterred her — "I’m not going to go away, by the way’’ — just don’t expect her to come to Wellington for a meeting. "I’m not going to Wellington any more, Wellington can come to me.’’
"It’s sort of like, if we ignore her, she’ll go away. I won’t — there’s a big job to be done in New Zealand. If I can teach another 100 children to read in New Zealand, I’ve achieved something.
"They need me. I’m not being arrogant about it, as much as they need other people. They need partners on it. I’m a winner in New Zealand ... work with the winner [and] other winners, not just me, and say how do we solve this problem together?’’
Her message? "Don’t be afraid of private enterprise, it can deliver some pretty good deliverables.’’
There needed to be more celebration amid education in New Zealand, particularly the "fabulous’’ classroom teachers. That would build inspiration and inspiration was key.
New Zealand was not particularly good at celebrating — unless it involved the All Blacks — and she put that down to a sort of shyness.
Shy was not a word one would associate with Dame Wendy, although she disliked being referred to as a "brash Australian’’ — "that’s ridiculous’’.
Asked what advice she would give business owners struggling in a difficult economic climate, Dame Wendy said it was all about the fundamentals.
"You look at your core business, don’t stray away from it. Look at the core potential of the business, the core capabilities of staff and how can you be totally focused on achievable outcomes of deliverables within the environment you live in.
"Live within your means ... I’m constantly surprised at people maxing out their credit card to travel to France. I’m not against people travelling but, again, they should be concentrating on their core business.’’
The world was a much tougher place since the arrival of Covid and there was a global trend of cautiousness. Prior to the pandemic, there were entrepreneurs who took risks. Now people were more concerned about paying their mortgage and looking after their children.
Exporting businesses needed to look at their core markets, develop strategies and get into those markets. And that was not over the phone.
In the global publishing scene, Dame Wendy said she competed with the "giants’’ and she was known around the world for her early learning material.
But in the racing industry — a longtime private passion she shares with husband Don — she was an outsider "who loves to beat the chase of the hunt’’.
Describing herself as a reasonable-size horse breeder, Dame Wendy said the couple had 65 "or more’’ horses, including mares, foals and lots which were racing — "some are champions, some are not so champion.’’
"I love the challenge of beating other people. Actually I’m a good loser — I’ve lost lots of time. I’m the first to congratulate everybody.’’
