From vulnerability to victory – the benefits of embracing courage with Anton Matthews
Hustle Group Director Anton Matthews tells a compelling story about acting courageously. The story is good because it’s based on being vulnerable and taking a leap to bring values intrinsic to his core – his culture and language – to the forefront of his food and beverage businesses and winning.
It’s a story about leading with openness and honesty to try and normalise te reo Māori in his businesses and community and inspire others to embrace Aotearoa New Zealand’s rich cultural heritage. And, as Anton says, the rest is history. The story was a hit, and the growth and opportunities that have resulted for the businesses are ongoing.
Anton is a keynote speaker at Futurespace 2024 in Ōtautahi Christchurch this October. We asked him for a taste of the stories he’ll share.
What does courageous mean to you?
“Courageous means doing the thing that you’re afraid of. Many successful businesses were built during really hard times, such as the global financial crisis in 2008, and I suspect we’ll look back on this time now and think how bad it was.
“There’s a lot of learning that comes with tough times. If you can get through them, the other times become so much easier.”
Where did you find the courage to take the leap to align your businesses with your values?
“You only live once. I’m influenced by my environment, my whanau, friends, and colleagues. There are many inputs. But, at the end of the day, you must believe in the decision to go ahead and do it.”
How does a good leader lead?
“It is important to be human. People these days are pretty good at sensing when they’re being fed a lie. There’s a lot of mistrust out there and dishonesty is not the sign of a good leader.
“We’re often afraid of how people might perceive or respond to us if we show weakness so it’s courageous to be vulnerable and share the truth even though it might scare you.
“The leader’s job is to motivate people to be the best version of themselves. They must work out what makes each person tick, and then do what’s needed to bring out the best in that person and create an environment that allows them to experience success.
“When things aren’t going well, you look to your leaders to assume authority – you want them to step up, lead by example and give direction. Your tribe will follow you when you show that you are values-driven and your actions line up with your words. You need to bring that human aspect to the table.
“In Māori, the word for leader is ‘rangatira’. ‘Ranga’ means to weave and ‘tira’ means people. The role of the rangatira is to weave people together and unite them so that when you must make those tough decisions, you can successfully unite them on the divisive issues. We are stronger when we are united.”
Is it harder to be a leader in challenging times?
“It’s always challenging but the leadership required in good times is quite different to now when things are much tighter. The last few years were a great time to be in hospitality because people were stuck at home and there was lots of money flowing around.
“Strong leadership is more critical in tough times. The decisions required to lead effectively are harder and more important – you must step up and make those tough decisions, whereas in the boom times you can get away with going on holiday.”
How will you inspire the audience?
“The things we’ve done over the last seven years in our business have required courage. We’ve put language and culture at the forefront of our business. Christchurch is a very Anglo-Saxon city and, when you’re trying to build a hospitality business based on commodities – fish and chips and coffee – in a very competitive environment, you need an edge. We decided to be very open and honest with our community about our commitment to te reo Māori and Māori culture.
“I speak te reo Māori with my tamariki (children) but the decision to bring it to our business was courageous and could have gone either way. I was slightly worried that people would turn their backs on our business because of what we stood for even though they liked the product.
“But we weighed up the pros and cons and decided, in 2016, to lead with the values of te reo Māori and Māori culture because it’s more important that I show my tamariki that te reo Māori belongs in these spaces.
“The rest is history because everyone thought it was really cool and started asking great questions. We then gave them good answers and, ultimately, put on a free te reo Māori class, which gave us a lot of positive PR. We received a few negative comments, which hurt and felt unfair, but most were positive, and you learn to deal with it and move on. That’s part of growth.
“From a commercial viewpoint, no one could have predicted the outcome. It wasn’t the driving force behind it – I didn’t even know PR was a thing – but it ended up becoming this amazing story that we've told many times and it’s still paying dividends.
“Looking back, that decision in 2016 was one of those watershed moments that changed the narrative and the direction of our business and gave us a strong competitive edge that was interesting – fish and chips and te reo Māori.
“So, I will speak about what that decision has done for our business, including the commercial angle, how we’ve brought te reo Māori into our marketing, our brand story, and I’ll tell some stories. I’m a good storyteller.
“We’re currently building a business in Christchurch airport because the airport wanted local businesses who had cultural intelligence. We were competing against some huge multinational companies and beat them all because we’d decided to put culture and language front and centre in 2016.
“Many opportunities have come about because of that courageous decision, and I suspect that will continue. It almost felt like I was ‘coming out of the closet’; that I was hiding a secret while walking around my community and running these businesses. And then we decided to tell everyone about this language that I speak with my tamariki and our culture, and they thought it was so cool.”