Although there are days when I find the thought of being almost 57 scary, I’m thankful for the privilege of seeing each new day and the things I’ve been able to do, not the least of which is meeting Bill Richardson twice. The first time in 1996 was the most intriguing. I was a 31-year-old nobody, one of a touring party that included sawmilling and transport folk of real note Bill was showing around his truck museum. That night, the long-track speedway was on at the Invercargill Racecourse, and our party and a group from Southern Transport were there independently of each other. In the dim light of the evening, I passed Bill among the crowd, and he said, “G’day, Dave. Big night, eh?” We had a short but warm exchange. I was floored.

He was noted for being a hard but fair businessman and for his understanding that there are no businesses without people. His writings on work/life balance and family were ahead of their time, even then. In his 1995 book Wheels & Deals, he wrote that the HW Richardson Group, as it was then, turned over $150 million, ran 350 heavy trucks and paid out $20 million annually in wages. Of his museum, a place in which he found solace following the tragic death of his son Harold in September 1995, he said: “I hope when I die, someone will be interested enough to carry it on.”

Succession is the ultimate test of any family undertaking. When two tragic blows are dealt in the space of a decade, the ability to succeed in its stewardship comes under the refiner’s ultimate test.

Bill died suddenly in March 2005, sending shockwaves through New Zealand commerce and leaving his wife Shona, daughter Jocelyn and her husband Scott O’Donnell, plus trusted deputies, to calmly take the wheel as it were.

Today, the HW Richardson Group is New Zealand’s largest privately owned transport entity, comprising 48 companies across six sectors, employing 2500 staff in Australia and New Zealand, with 1300 heavy vehicles and an annual turnover of $2 billion. As for the museum, Shona, Joc, Scott and everyone continuing the Richardson legacy have not just grown the museum beyond recognition but have made Invercargill itself a bucket- list tourist destination for the millions of folk around the globe who have a bent for man’s mechanical marvels.

Their investment in their home city and region is entrenched in family tradition, paying back and paying forward.

Often the great tripwire of succession in business is understanding your children don’t relive your life; they’re different people with different experiences and – often – values. The clincher, in this case, is understanding that Bill Richardson was not a self-made man; the Richardsons are a self-made family. Right from the arrival of Jocelyn’s great-great-grandfather Samuel from Ireland in 1878, the Richardsons have been people of Southland commerce. Every generation has introduced the next at an early age to the hard realities of the balance sheet through inclusion in what the family is all about. Sometimes, as in Bill’s father’s case, that introduction was particularly harsh, but that helped engender an appreciation of those who ‘came along for the ride’ and stuck with them. That heightened sense of appreciation stayed with Bill his whole life.

The pattern of inclusion and opportunity manifested itself in Bill and his brother Ken at a time when a young country was commercially mature enough for three generations of training and experience to flourish. By the time Bill tragically left us, as premature as it was, his generational work was done. As TSL co-owner Wayne Williams said to us recently, “Scott and Joc don’t always get the credit they deserve. They’re wonderful people to work with in business.”

There’s no shortage of Wayne Williams and Dale Cockers in the core and associated businesses today, multi-decade vets for whom work is not simply a job.

Bill’s greatest legacy was the same as his father Harold, as it has been all the way back to Samuel and Alice, empowering those who came next and understanding that without people, there is nothing.

Special Thanks

Well, it took 37 years, but we did it! All good things, I guess… Thanks to Scott, Joc and the Richardson family for opening the doors and letting the Anthem out to play. Thanks to Dale Cocker for your willing and enthusiastic cooperation throughout. Likewise, Lionel Wood and the team for making 3 Spey Street so welcoming. We feel like we could bring an apple slice and join in for smoko anytime. Thanks, especially, to Nick Young, the latest poor person to endure the crazy truck nuts from New Zealand Trucking. And thanks to Stu Wynd and the team at MTD for their unfailing cooperation. Happy 50th birthday to you all.