New Zealand Herald
http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/inspired-people/2008/9/26/chris-wingate-kiwi-australia/?c_id=1501798
If you have seen the film "Once Were Warriors" that was how Christopher Wingate grew up. The difference was his parents were white and the house a bit more flash. But all the other dynamics existed in Rotorua in the 1960's.
He knew from a young age he wanted a different life and so instead of spending his days hanging around the Western Heights shops he spent it in the bush or wondering around some of the tourist businesses talking with the owners.
"Each Friday night we would have fish and chips- one piece of fish each. The others would hog their piece of fish but I would focus on the chips knowing my fish would be there long after they had scoffed their fish. I guess then I knew I was different"
Married 24 years with 4 kids, Chris was a self made millionaire by the age of 25. He has lived in Australia, New Zealand, Vancouver and Hawaii.
In 1997 he funded Auckland school kid Scott Dixon to race Formula Holden then the following year he set up Scott Dixon Motorsport to fund Scott's racing career. In 2003 Dixon won the Indy Racing world title in his first attempt and then in 2008 won the Indy 500 and the Indy World Title.
No stranger to adventure himself, in 1999 Chris shipped a 4wheel drive to India and drove to London with Sir Peter Tapsell and Prof. Frank Brosnahan via India,Pakistan, Iran, Syria Jordon, Lebanon,Turkey etc.
He is currently filming a movie called GOVERNMENT, a 9/11 type film about what he calls "idiots in power."What Drives Chris?HOME TOWNRotorua (now lives in Australia)
HOBBIESReading, writing, painting, sculpture, poetry, cooking, studying humans, bush walks, humanities, law, nano technology, CERN, design, playing the piano, didgeridoo
LIFE GOALTo make politicians and judges accountable by getting the public to help remove Crown and Judicial Immunity. Our political systems of managing our countries are a failure. We really need to separate the nice smiling people from the constructive ones. Our politicians and judges want mana and prestige which they prioritise over the more important responsibility of being the most important fiduciaries in the world. If any other fiduciary fails they only harm a few. If our politicians and judges fail they can and unfortunately do ruin the entire nation.
My Favourite Time of the day is...(and why)Being woken by our pet birds at 5am. Here in Australia when you go outside the sound of the forest all around us is just coming alive like an orchestra.
I really enjoy...My family and seeing others succeed in life.
List a few of your recent accomplishments that you are proud of:Picking my sorry self up out of New Zealand after losing the Matakana litigation, coming back to Australia to start again from scratch. But my greatest success has been seeing my children being successful.
Did you celebrate them? How?Everyday we talk about their objectives and goals. I tell them I am proud of them and encourage them to keep moving forward
I am busy at the moment doing:We are currently filming a movie called GOVERNMENT, a 9/11 type film about idiots in power.
My big hairy audacious goal this year is to:Lose weight and get really fit, and be a better father and husband.
I knew I was onto something when:I realised intention was the prerequisite of doing.
My secret for getting things done is to:Prioritise things. Draft a list of what I need to do. I recall the words of a Tibetan Monk who escaped the invading Chinese army by walking over the snow and ice covered mountains. When asked how he did it, he said "One step at a time"
My darkest hour was when:I lost the Matakana Island litigation at the Privy Council. I had won the 4 week trial in the NZ High Court - the defendants were clearly guilty and all the documents and cross examination proved that. Then the Court of Appeal changed the facts and ignored others, I was shocked democracy could be so negligent or corrupt. The Privy Council were supposed to be the beacon of intelligence so when they rejected my appeal I just went blank.
* EDITOR'S NOTE: The story behind the Matakana Island litigation is covered in this
Scoop article. Chris Wingate has also set up a
website about the venture.
I came through it by:On the flight back sitting in first class talking with a Chinese businessman from Singapore we started talking about what we did. I explained I had just lost a court case and began talking about it all . I started showing him some photographs of Matakana Island from my briefcase and among those photo's were pictures of my family and our home, While looking at them I realised my family were about to lose their home as we had put everything into the litigation. Suddenly I found myself crying.
The Singaporean man put his hand over to mine and said " Maybe I don't know how bad things are for you but I want to consider this, imagine if you were on this flight for a different reason, imagine if one of your family had been killed and you were flying back to New Zealand for that reason, you would be here right now praying to god he take everything you own in exchange for that family member to be alive again. Money is not as important as family that is your priority and that is your wealth and reward". I got off the plane with a smile and my family needed that.
What would do if you were not ...If I didn't do what I did I would love to be a postman. What a lovely calm life that would be.
What do you do to cope with stress?As I have got older I cope better. Often I think of planet earth flying past in space and when I think of it from out there I remember whatever my problems are they really don't matter in the big picture.
How many hours do you work each week?I guess I seldom stop if you consider thinking through things as work. The issues I am working on are huge. Everyone is caught up with the current system of political management but that system is failing and they know it. So where my mind is most hours of the day is reforming political management. By that I mean getting better performance from those who say to society "trust us with managing your society" The human apathy, technical, logistical and media obstacles in that are enormous and require endless thinking in order to hatch a plan to win. And I don't plan on losing the world can't afford that.
What do you do when things aren't going your way?Never give up. But I don't keep banging my head against the wall I stand back from it and think about all the options. But the key is never, never give up the objective. And often the wall is an illusionary obstacle. In other words the things that you think are in the way are not really what's stopping you. And perhaps most important- when someone says no, don't worry about that, perhaps they just don't yet understand.
What is the most important piece of advice you'd give to people who are struggling to create a positive change in their lives?You should never struggle to make a positive change because being alive is the most positive thing and with that whatever you think is getting you down is really not important in the scheme of things. People I come across who are in a rut are nearly always holding onto the rut like a blanket.
What is the hardest lesson you've had to learn in life?Realising titles create the illusion ability exists. Learning to struggle with intelligent people in government power who have no common sense. Experiencing government incompetence among the drowning flood of silence.
What separates successful people from unsuccessful people?Successful people do lots of things and unsuccessful don't do much at all. But success is in the heart not in the wallet. I know plenty of people with money but I only know a few of them with happiness. A friend of mine who taught swimming to the rich in Beverly Hills once said "The only happy people in Beverly Hills were the staff"
Do you have any daily rituals that help you keep focused and in the right mental state to succeed?Go go go !!! Life is short. And remember the problem with doing nothing is you don't know when you are finished. So get off your bum and do something.
Do you have any school/study qualifications?Dropped out at 15 with no educational qualifications but an attitude of I can do anything and I knew I wanted to see the world and be a success at whatever I did.
What are the three most important personal qualities you've had to develop to become a CEO?I am still learning I don't think you ever stop that. But if I had my time over again the rules from the start would be - never lie, never steal, never do anything that wounds your soul, respect others, work hard and never give up.
What are the three most important skills that you would advise up and coming youngsters to develop?Never do anything wrong that you can't come back from. Pay your bills. Talk about your objectives and explain how you require relationships in order to meet those objectives. In doing that everyone knows where you want to go and what part they can play in it. But for those who have tried and have failed, remember to rebuild to last we must be aware why we failed.
Who inspires you the most and why?Firstly my wife. The greatest human I have ever known. If the world was seeded from her this would be a wonderful planet with wonderful people. There would be no wars and no problems.
But apart from her, Sir Peter Tapsell. He was a raised without shoes in a poor family. But his hard work and sense of drive led him to the top of sport, medicine and politics. Then in retirement he has found total happiness in saddling up his horse at 5am and riding into the hills to fix a fence, move livestock around. Peter lives life by looking forward, he never looks back. He is perhaps New Zealand's greatest son. I love the man dearly.
Do you have a formal goal setting process?First goal is being able to see it and keeping your eye on it. When I was 18 Reg Ansett founder of Ansett airlines asked me if I could shoot a target at 50 yards on a barn door. When I said yes he then asked if I though I could beat the worlds best shooter to which I said no. He then said if you put a blindfold over the champion shooters eyes you could beat him. The lesson was it does not matter how much talent you have, if you can't see the target anyone can beat you. So if you want to hit a target you have to take off the blind folds in order to see the target. I have often thought about that. The blindfolds come in many forms with comments like you can't do that, you're too young, too old, it's too expensive, too hard, too far. Just focus on the target and don't let people put blindfolds on you.
Have you ever been scared to .........? What did you do about it?I am not scared of anything which scares the hell out of those who travel with me. When my son was 8 we were screaming along on one hull out of the water on Lake Rotorua in our catamaran one cold windy winter's day. He was crying scared we would tip over and he would drown. I said to him if he feared dying and was hanging on doing nothing about it then would it not be better for him to try managing the event rather than being a passenger. He got the message and soon was helping me control the boat. That was one of his most important life lessons.
What comes first...success or confidence?Confidence, you must have confidence about your plan. And as soon as you have confidence you have become more successful than those with money and no confidence. I recall an old Italian guy who owned a timber yard in Sydney talking about a young lad working for him who had just won lotto. He said "Everyone is saying he's rich. But he's not rich his heart, his soul is poor, he will never be rich."
The Parting Shot:When I feel frustrated that things are not coming together as I wish, I proceed to... Again I look at the objective I am chasing and review the bridges and steps I am making to get me there. If you plant seeds, it's only one good seed that may count. But perhaps the most important thing I recall is something I wrote at the Privy Council in London. "The cost of failure is experience, but the cost for not trying is your soul"
Below is an article from Lawfuel.http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0805/S00032.htm
Businessman To Take $17 Bn Property Back To Court
Friday, 2 May 2008, 10:57 am
Press Release: LawFuel
Businessman To Take $17 Billion Waterfront Property Case Back to Court
LawFuel - The Law Jobs and Legal NewsWire
It may be unusual, but businessman Christopher Wingate has never been one to do things by halves. The “unusual” is something that comes easy to him and it made him a millionaire by age 25.
Mr Wingate is now advertising for “lawyers with stamina” to take a case worth $3.5 billion profits back to court. And $3.5b is a conservative number Mr Wingate refers people to look at http://matakanadevelopment.blogspot.com/
In this proposal Mr Wingate is offering lawyers a huge share in Matakana’s waterfront property should they take this case on and win the land back. Wingate’s company, Arklow Investments proposed a $17 billion development of Matakana Island. He commissioned international reports between 1991 and 1998 that would see an international airport, 20,000 houses, six world-class golf courses, holiday parks, a university, marine science centre and other major features built on Matakana Island. The project is New Zealand’s greatest, Wingate said.
A successful self made businessman at the young age of 25, Wingate’s career saw him living between Hawaii, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. He’s been in business for 30 years and says he has spent $5.5 million on lawyers, litigating the Matakana Island “theft.”
In Arklow vs. MacLean and Others [1999] UKPC 51, the Privy Council London dismissed an appeal from the Court of Appeal of New Zealand which found Wellington merchant bank FAR Financial owed no fiduciary duty to Arklow Investments. But Mr Wingate says they were wrong and he can prove it.
“I went to a Wellington merchant bank Far Financial to borrow $4-5m. They asked us to bring the business to them so we gave the 3 FAR directors the blue print of our deal which was how to get 10,000 acres for free. We negotiated for Kanematsu Japan to buy the 17-34 year forest cutting rights for $15.75m. The price I had negotiated to buy Matakana land and forests was $20m, hence going to Wellington Merchant Bank Far Financial to borrow the shortfall. Our plan was to repay the $5m, by selling off the 1-16 year forest. So by doing that we would end up with the land for free. After showing FAR Financial our deal, instead of offering us the money we needed, FAR asked us for $5000 to go find the money. The court evidence showed that within days, FAR called USA forest company ITT Rayonier and offered them the 17-34 year forest for $15.6m.
"In the end, FAR Financial ended up with the ownership control of the 10,000 acres, for free plus a few million. Arklow then took FAR to court claiming breach of fiduciary duty, misuse of confidential information and breach of confidentiality. But before the matter got to trial, FAR did a deal to sell the 10,000 acres of Matakana land to a group of Maori who claimed the land was sacred. What surprised me was how the courts bent over backwards to accommodate their every whim.
"My caveats were lifted the deal went through and the Maoris’ then immediately sold half the sacred land to USA company Port Blakely keeping 5000 acres plus $5m which they then used to fight Arklow in its case against FAR. It was and is a scandal that must be corrected. If not then litigation is a waste of time and the courts should close in all civil trials because they have shown in Arklow they have no interest in accuracy. We won the four week trial and retrial and then got totally screwed by the Appeal Courts who changed the facts so as to give the land to Maori, who claimed it was sacred. Yet two years later announced plans to build canal housing right over the graves they had previously pointed out when seeking the courts sympathy.
"But so much for sacred, last year the Maori group sold the remaining 5000 acres to property developers for $75 million and the tribe got nothing everything went to the Maori leaders and their chartered accountant.”
Mr Wingate’s dissatisfaction with the judicial and political systems has led him to make a film called Government which is along the lines of Michael Moore’s documentaries on corruption and “idiots in power.”
“The public are witnessing the growing trends of politicians and the judiciary bowing to the demands of big business and other hidden agenda. Networking power appears to be shifting influence and authority into the hands of some legal and business corporations often in a corrupt way,” Wingate says.
When asked to prove the Court of Appeal and Privy Council were wrong, he said,
“If Arklow entrusts FAR with any ability to control the financial well being of Arklow, FAR Financial has become bound in a relationship of trust. And so the rules are;
1- That FAR will not in any way commit any act which may conflict with the interests of Arklow who is seeking a $3.43 billion dollar profit out of the plans it has trusted FAR to receive; or
2- That FAR will use the new position of control, if it is used, only to serve the interests of Arklow.
These are the rules to stop those with any entrusted conferred control over the financial well-being of those like Arklow, who are expecting their care will proceed without falling victim caused by a conflict of interest.
If you agree that is the correct position of equitable law, then you would know the Court of Appeal and Privy Council were incorrect in their decision. That has always been the position of the law, it’s just that no one has ever written this in a single rule like I have.”
Mr Wingate said, “The Court’s changed many key facts, an example”
In the High Court 1994 Justice Greig page 17 said,
“At no relevant time would Arklow-Wingate have been able to purchase and complete the transaction”
Then in the High Court 1997 Justice Temm page 5 said –
“By February Kanematsu were prepared to pay $15.75m”
But then Court of Appeal Justice Gault 1998 page 35 said–
“At no time was Kanematsu prepared to pay $15.75m for the 17-34 year forest”
Then in the Privy Council 1999, Justice Henry page 1 said –
“The relevant facts are fully set out in the majority judgment of Richardson P., Gault and Keith JJ. delivered by Gault J., and need not be repeated in detail “
Mr Wingate said it’s a scandal what the judges said when we look at the evidence. For example the general manager of Kanematsu Steve Wilson in the High Court trial said and produced the actual board approved deal agreeing to pay $15.75m. The other evidence was from the CEO of Peter Spencer’s investment group, which said they were ready to provide Arklow with whatever they needed to complete the deal. So when asked why didn’t Arklow do the deal with Spencer? “Because FAR beat us to it the deal”
So how did the Maoris end up in the deal Wingate suggests people read matakanaleadership.blogspot.com/
When asked how can the owners of the land be liable? Mr Wingate said, “All parties have dealt in these assets knowing of Arklow’s claim.”
This will be interesting.
ENDS
