It was a beautiful bluebird afternoon when I rang the doorbell of Dr Helen Anderson’s family crib.
Her husband Michael answered the door and said, "Oh you don’t look like a plumber."
Dr Anderson appeared behind him and ushered me through to the living room, apologising that it had been one of those days when everything had gone wrong and they were expecting a parade of tradesmen.
The house was modest compared to many of the mansions being built in Wanaka but the outlook was jaw-dropping, with an uninterrupted panoramic view across to Roys Peak and Treble Cone.
"The biggest problem I have in living here is I have to turn and look the other way when I’m working because otherwise I just want to go for a walk or a bike ride."
Dr Anderson grew up in Dunedin but has been coming to Wanaka since she was 4 years old.
"My earliest memories are of having glorious summer holidays at Bremner Bay, rowing a boat my uncle made, all that wondrous childhood stuff."
In the 1970s her father bought several acres on Beacon Point Rd and built a holiday house there.
"We don’t see anybody else here and that’s the luck of being early but I think the sad thing about Wanaka now is you can walk up behind us and there are only one or two houses being lived in. I think that may be changing because I know quite a few other directors who are doing what I’m doing. They live in Wanaka and fly from Queenstown to wherever the board meeting is or a site visit."
Dr Anderson is a director of a dozen industry and Crown company boards and is a role model for many women starting out in business, but said it did not come about by planning.
"Some people have a five-year plan — I’ve never believed in that — but what I do know is you’ve got to be ready for any opportunities that come your way and to take them."
She credits her insatiable curiosity, love of learning and seldom being able to say "no" as the reasons for her varied career.
"I was head girl and dux at Columba College and always a bit of a swot. I studied maths, physics and geology at the University of Otago and when I said I wanted to become a geologist my dad said ‘I’m not sure you can as it’s a man’s world’, which, of course, made me think ‘right, I’m going to do that’."
She was awarded a scholarship to study for a PhD in seismology at Cambridge University and returned to take up a job with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR).
"I had the most wonderful boss who sent me out to be part of a seismic crew on the West Coast. I remember he asked me to drive this big shot-firing four-wheel-drive truck and I said ‘I don’t think I can’. His response was to say ‘then don’t tell me you’ve never been given the chance’ and I thought ‘right, I’m going to drive it then’."
One of the biggest opportunities Dr Anderson said she was given was when someone suggested she apply for a senior position at the University of Otago.
"I thought I couldn’t do it as it involved being a manager but this person said ‘of course, you can do it’ and that was the start of a whole lot of other opportunities, including being shoulder-tapped to join a very large government committee."
The committee gave advice on allocating science funding and it became Dr Anderson’s introduction to the world of government policymaking.
"It allowed me to get close to the political interface and to really understand what motivates and drives people in politics and how you can influence them."
Her first invitation to join a board came through former minister of transport Maurice Williamson.
"The Ministry of Transport rang me and said the minister had seen me challenge the then-treasurer Bill Birch in a Cabinet meeting. I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to do that sort of thing, and I said ‘he was wrong’ and he was wrong. Apparently, there was deep intake of breath and Maurice said ‘who is that woman? I want her on my board’."
A career as a public servant followed, Dr Anderson becoming chief scientific adviser (1997-2003) and chief executive (2004-10) of the ministry and representing New Zealand at international forums, including Apec.
Invitations to join other boards followed, including DairyNZ, Antarctic NZ, Lincoln Hub, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) and chairwoman of the BRANZ board.
She also chairs or is a member of advisory boards for the Department of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the NZ Police and is patron of Wing 297 of New Zealand Police recruits.
In 2010 she was appointed a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order and a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Dr Anderson said she had never experienced a glass ceiling herself, but believed their presence obliged women in senior positions to sometimes break through from above and pull other women through.
"That doesn’t mean choosing women who aren’t up to it; it’s about challenging recruitment boards and head hunters to look wider than their normal pool of applicants."
She said New Zealand was "really terrible" when it came to appointing women to the boards of listed companies, but she would not want to see New Zealand go down the same path as Australia and start appointing women just for the sake of it.
"I want to be on a board because I’m really good at it or because I have potential or because someone is backing me. I would never want to be the woman on the board because she is a woman. I think if you are going to bring someone new on to a board you have to support them and I got that support."
So what defines success for her in career terms?
"I think being really satisfied in what you are doing and stretching yourself is what is important. For me, it is always about what am I learning. I feel really uncomfortable that something that looks like success on paper is a recipe for everybody because there are so many women who are doing extraordinary things in their lives and I met quite a few of them at the Wanaka chamber of commerce meeting. A lot of those women are taking risks in setting up their own business and that’s inspirational to me."
