The Women in Business in the 21st Century conference, hosted by the Queenstown Chamber of Commerce, saw the Remarkables Room packed out and parking spaces at a premium as nine of the country's most successful businesswomen spoke about their pathways to success.
Keynote speaker Teresa Gattung, director, author and former Telecom New Zealand chief executive, started the day's programme by telling the women from Queenstown, Central Otago and Otago "you can have it all, but life is a marathon, not a sprint".
Ms Gattung credited a physical breakdown in her mid-20s - and a car accident - for helping her become the head of Telecom at the age of 37. She lasted eight years.
After a stint at TVNZ - a "glamorous company" where she had staff - Ms Gattung decided she wanted to get into investment banking, "when merchant banking was sexy the first time".
However, women were not traditionally employed in the role, so she heeded her father's advice: When one door closes, a window will open.
"If you're not happy in your job, don't stay there.
"Take a risk, move sideways, move somewhere else ... I went sideways.
"I went to a less glamorous company, a less glamorous job and no staff."
After working as National Mutual's market research manager, she saw the position of BNZ's corporate marketing chief advertised in 1990, a job she was offered when she was 28.
However, on her first day she was told a financial restructure was about to be announced - it was the $600 million BNZ bail-out.
"I've learnt that nothing in life is altogether good or altogether bad - even in the worst of times, there are silver linings and even in the best of times, you, or someone else, is sowing the seeds of future problems.
"The whole executive team basically worked together ... we spent so much time with the staff because the staff had to believe the bank had a future.
"It was the eye of the storm, but it was wonderful."
While Ms Gattung was "happy as Larry" at BNZ, when the bank sold to National Australia Bank, she realised she needed to "move on".
"I'm not a very good driver.
"I had a wee accident in my car - I managed to drive myself over a ledge."
After exiting the vehicle, precariously perched on the ledge, Ms Gattung flagged down a motorist to ask for help.
That driver flagged down another car - driven by Telecom's outgoing head of marketing.
"I took his job and his PA."
After being promoted to head of New Zealand sales for Telecom, Ms Gattung kept her eyes on the top prize - that of chief executive - and in 1999, when it was announced the company was looking for someone to fill the top job, she went into "campaign mode" and made history that August when she named the successful candidate.
"At the press conference, there was literally one female journalist. Their jaws were dropped open.
"They were saying 'are you going to have kids?
'"It was the most amazing press conference - I got asked questions no bloke would ever be asked. Sometimes you realise how far we haven't come."
Other speakers at yesterday's conference included Founding partner of Chen Palmer and University of Auckland Business School adjunct professor Mai Chen, creator and founder of World of WearableArt Dame Suzie Moncrieff and TV3 News anchor and journalist Hilary Barry, who was also MC for the conference.
Words of advice
From Teresa Gattung
• You have got nothing to lose by looking at other options. You can not have it when you didn't have it anyway. You might get something better, or you might get what you wanted.
• Never look at a job like a curriculum for study. A job description is simply the ticket to the dance - it's in no way prescriptive. Look at it as opening up possibilities.
• Things always work out in the end - if it's not worked out for you, then it can't be the end.
• Know the importance of those who have gone before. "It's tiresome to see how often people go into a job and assume everyone else is [rubbish] and everything else is rubbish.
"Whatever you do is going to be, in some way, linked to the past.
"Value the people who can help you."
• Take opportunities as they are presented to you. "I regret being so focused on Telecom that I didn't go on boards. In my last couple of years at Telecom, as soon as I got to the six-year point ... I should have taken them and I didn't. By the time I was ready, the right ones weren't there."
• If you're working in a corporation in New Zealand, work in areas of the company that are important to it. Don't work in areas that are "deminimising", less than 10% of the organisation.
• Hire people who are smarter than you. "If you hire people who aren't as big as you, they hire pygmies and you have a company full of dwarfs. Surround yourself with the best and brightest; that's how you look good and that's how you get promoted. For you to move on, you have to have groomed your successor."
• Be a team player. "Ask for feedback, take it on board, become a team player. You can't ask others to be a team player unless you are a team player yourself."
