Bruce Cotterill

Bruce Cotterill is an Advisor to Business Leaders, Company Director, Keynote Speaker, Columnist, Bestselling Author.  Bruce Cotterill describes his career as a “vertical learning curve”.

Bruce is a “transformation leader” with extensive experience across a range of industries – notably real estate, media, financial services, professional services, technology and retail – and a variety of ownership models, including private equity, partnerships and public companies.

Bruce is now a professional director with a portfolio comprising six Boards, and he is currently the Chair of Asset Plus Limited, Rush Digital Interactive and the Independent Board member of law firm Duncan Cotterill. He is also a retained advisor to a number of corporate organisations and professional services businesses across New Zealand.

As a CEO, he led real estate group Colliers in both New Zealand and Australia, Kerry Packer’s ACP Magazines, and iconic New Zealand sportswear company Canterbury International. He became a specialist at “fixing broken businesses and business models” and led Yellow Pages Group through a period of dramatic change, including the restructure of the Company’s $1.8 billion of debt.

A lifetime commitment to charity work has seen Bruce in various roles for Surf Life Saving New Zealand, as Chair of Pinehurst School and Chairman of Swimming New Zealand. Early this year he launched the Bike for Blokes Charitable Trust and with his friend Paul Muir cycled the length of New Zealand, some 2,600 kilometers in 22 days, raising in excess of $200,000 for men’s mental health and prostate cancer charities.

Bruce is a highly-regarded business communicator assisting organisations to maximise their performance and profitability. His clients have included Telstra Media, the Canterbury  earthquake Recovery Authority, ANZ Bank, and a number of real estate, media and retail organisations. He is also regarded as “one of Australasia’s leading conference keynote speakers – a wonderful storyteller who adds humour and inspiration to his presentations”.

Bruce is a passionate leader of change, and is genuinely interested in business performance improvement. A lifetime leader, who focuses on clear objectives, enhanced personnel engagement and improved customer orientation he has continuously delivered vastly improved results through his involvement in organisations.

In 2018 Bruce published his first full length book entitled “The Best Leaders Don’t Shout” and he is a regular business columnist for the New Zealand Herald, and other NZME publications. In his “spare time” he is a husband, father, lifeguard, ageing triathlete, cyclist, ocean swimmer and frustrated golfer.

Bruce Cotterill talks about:

• The Profit Zone – how to understand the 7 Principles of Profit and put them to work for your business
• Customers for Life – why is it so hard to get your people to deliver a great customer experience?
• The Greatest Question – 9 simple steps to effective leadership
• Vertical Learning Curves – the opportunity offered by change
• Treehouses And Chocolate Bars – how a little Kiwi company with a $2 million budget won advertising’s biggest prize (twice)!