This old mutt reckons you are never as good as your obituaries make you out to be, and the recent untimely death of former Fonterra chief and agribusinessman Craig Norgate reminded your old mate of this.
Sure there is little doubt Norgate did a lot of good in his 50 years on this planet; but he also had a lot of misses, which appear to have been brushed over in the haste to eulogise him. The formation of Fonterra and amalgamation of PGG Wrightson were good achievements, but the failure of the investment company he headed – RPI, and the failed attempt to merge PGG with SFF, were huge misses. Meanwhile, if Norgate was such a ‘visionary’ and a ‘great leader’ why did Fonterra not renew his chief executive contract after only two years in the role?
- CRAIG NORGATE
- the hound