John Hart

Business leader and Former Auckland and All Black coach.

John Hart spent 30 years with Fletchers and ultimately became Group Employee Relations Director, responsible for leading the development and co-ordination of the Human Resource function for Fletcher Challenge’s international operations. John played a major role in the New Zealand Rugby scene in the period 1987-1991 as an All Black Selector and Coach. He is widely acknowledged as the architect of New Zealand’s pre-eminence in Rugby in the late 1980’s. His motivational, man-management skills and vision have been recognised worldwide.

In April 1995 he started John Hart Consultancy Ltd and consulted to SKY Television in their bid to provide a professional Rugby competition in the Southern Hemisphere. Later that year he was appointed All Black coach and silenced many critics with two successful seasons; with 10 wins out of 11 tests and the first ever serious victory in South Africa in 1996 and a record of 17 tests with no losses in 1997. A renewal of his contract saw him coach the All Blacks through to the semifinals and fourth place in the 1999 Rugby World Cup, after which he immediately announced his retirement. He was awarded Office of the NZ Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to rugmy in 1997. He is currently a Director of Bayleys Corporation Ltd, Director of Sky Network Television, Director of Global Rugby Enterprises Ltd, Director of Superlife Trustees Ltd and a Trustee of the New Zealand High Performance Sports Trust.

He has published two books, “Straight From the Hart” and “Change of Hart” which includes a first-hand account of the successful transition of world rugby to a professional sport.

John’s interest is in sports management and he has or has held a number of external roles on sporting bodies. These include The New Zealand Sports Foundation and New Zealand 2000 Task Force, which was formed to look at the opportunities for New Zealand in sport, tourism and trade as a result of Sydney being awarded the 2000 Olympic Games.

Presentations:

Topics:

§ Change – Develop the ability to predict, lead and manage change§ Motivation§ Planning and Preparation§ Leadership§ Teambuilding