Dave Ryder rolled with the punches and ended up managing 300 people

From social work to squash growing

Though Dave Ryder works as managing director of a horticultural contracting company, he didn’t have a background in horticulture or management. He started out as a social worker, and moved into training social work students.

When that job vanished in the mid-1980s, he got into growing squash because he wanted to stay in Hawke’s Bay. After "some success and plenty of disasters", a new role opened up. "When you’re growing stuff you need people to weed stuff, pick stuff, and pack stuff. I got associated with supplying labour, and then I was contracted to set up a job club, which was to get Pacific Islanders into work."

Changes to government policy meant the job club didn’t survive, but the demand for horticultural workers did. So in the mid-1990s Dave found himself in business as a horticultural contractor.

Becoming older and more realistic

Now Dave's firm has 300 employees. As the business has grown, so has the toll it’s taken. "I think when you are young you are very optimistic. You think, ‘Not to worry!’ As I’ve got older things seem more like a hurdle. I used to be able to handle stress very well but my ability has decreased considerably. I started to go to sleep when I was driving in the sun – I was just physically exhausted.

"Now I do lots of physical exercise. I take an hour out of every day and I walk or jog or run on the treadmill. I don’t like it, but it gives me a lot of extra energy."

"I always felt I was setting other people up and at some stage I would disappear"

Dave’s philosophical about some of his workers going on to set up businesses that compete with his. In fact, he might even be pleased. "If I was worried about it I would have pulled my hair out and gone away and died. I’ve always felt I was setting other people up and at some stage I was going to disappear and let them get on."