Dairy stalwart Jim van der Poel has won the Outstanding Contribution to the Primary Industries Award, taking out the top honour last night with a standing ovation.

“When you take on these roles, of course you don’t do it for the accolades,” he says.

“You do it because you want to make a difference, you want to contribute, and you want to help the industry.”

The award recognises a governance career stretching back to the formation of Fonterra.

He says there is a difference between managing an organisation and leading one.

“Leadership, for me, is stepping out from that and just identifying stuff that needs to be done, or potentially is an issue and how we resolve those.

“It’s about finding solutions, identifying what the issues are, but it’s owning those solutions, stepping out, finding the solutions and driving it forward.”

He says good managers often have good leadership skills, but the two are different sets of requirements. A leader needs a vision and a pathway to reach it, and the relationships to carry people along.

“It’s no use having all these good ideas or views if people don’t follow you, or people don’t share that view.”

His career has run through a string of industry crises, from putting Fonterra together to the melamine scandal, the Mycoplasma bovis response, and He Waka Eke Noa.

“What was in front of us at the time was the government putting a law in place where we had to reduce our emissions by between 24% and 47%.”

He sees no conflict between New Zealand’s Paris commitments and its export ambitions.

“The two are not mutually exclusive – they kind of fit together.”

He says bringing young leaders through is something the sector can never do enough of.

“You can never have enough options with young people coming through – there’s some fantastic young people out there.”

Managing the handover matters as much as the arrival.

“It’s important, I think, that you always hand the baton over; you don’t try and hold onto it when you’ve done your time.”

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.