Well-run councils are one of the biggest levers to make NZ a better place: Tiwai Point boss

Wednesday, 15 July 2026

Michelle Henderson runs Tiwai Point. She says too often New Zealand is overly focused on the Government with a capital “G” rather than local government, which is vastly more influential day-to-day.

Michelle Henderson is general manager of New Zealand Aluminium Smelters (NZAS) which operates the country's only aluminium smelter, located at Tiwai Point near Bluff in Southland.

What was your most formative life experience?

Observing my father’s ambition, work ethic and the partnership between him and my Mum. Dad had a corporate banking role as an audit manager but drove a taxi every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night too.

With a friend, he was also developing an apartment block in Parnell. While he was doing all that, Mum kept the household running, which of course ensured Dad could keep doing what he was doing.

Your most inspirational figure?

Antoni Gaudí, the architect. He began the Sagrada Família knowing he would never see it completed. Apparently he even said his client – God – was not in a hurry! He built for a future he would not be part of, and left future generations a foundation of something remarkable to build on.

The long term perspective resonated with me in my current role. I’m the seventeenth general manager at NZAS. My job is to leave it safer, stronger and better positioned for the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth general managers and others who will work at Tiwai long after me.

Favourite book and why?

First, A Woman’s Place: Life, Leadership and Lessons from the Boardroom by Dame Joan Withers. I read Dame Joan’s book while considering whether to move from governance back into an executive role at Tiwai. Joan herself has made that switch a number of times from executive to governance roles, and then back again.

The sport of cycling is dear to my heart too. I’m involved in the governance of the sport in New Zealand. Right now I’m really enjoying a biography of the great Slovenian road cyclist Tadej Pogacar, by Andy McGrath. The title says it all: Unstoppable. And you pretty much have to be unstoppable to win the Tour de France four times.

As a leader, how would you address a toxic work culture?

I always try to listen properly, particularly to the people least likely to speak up. Most of my career has been in heavy industries, and I have seen how easily poor behaviour can become normalised when leaders tolerate it. When you see or hear something that is not OK, you need to say so in the moment.

But calling things out is not enough. You also need to look at the systems and signals that sustain a culture: who gets promoted, who gets heard, what behaviour is rewarded and what consequences follow. Representation matters too – it is hard to change a culture if the decision-making table never changes.

Change takes patience, but patience cannot become an excuse for inaction. You do not impose a new culture on people, you take them with you.

Hardest decision ever?

Leaving PowerNet to take up a governance role at Meridian Energy was a big one. I had two children at high school and less certainty around income, so the move felt like a big risk for me. I didn’t know whether I could contribute to a business from the boardroom rather than working in it day to day.

I worked hard at it, made a few mistakes, owned them, and learned a lot. Dame Joan Withers’ book talks about some of the same stuff.

The decision was made easier by an earlier one I’d made: leaving NZAS after seventeen years in my first stint there to take a role at Rio Tinto’s Yarwun operation in Queensland. And that, in turn, made my next move easier - to the Tom Price mine in the Pilbara, in Western Australia.

The big lesson? Do hard things, and the next hard thing becomes just a little less daunting. You never know what experiences will open up when you are prepared to be courageous and take a calculated risk.

Should billionaires exist?

I’d reframe this question slightly. My view is that anyone who’s seriously rich needs to show an equally strong sense of responsibility and philanthropic behaviour. The world needs that and I can think of a few billionaires who don’t measure up in this regard.

If I were a billionaire, I would…

…use the money to fund programmes and opportunities through local people to lift economic performance.

I’d put the spotlight on strong leaders in regions who are the service of others – and support these leaders to grow. Which brings me the importance of leadership at a local level…

What is the one thing that could happen in New Zealand tomorrow that would make life better for the most people?

I want to talk about local government! The key word here is “local”. Perhaps a bit too often we are focused more on government with a capital G – the world of Wellington, which grabs so much media and other attention, not to mention resources and talent.

Local government has an outsized influence on the things that determine whether a place works: infrastructure, services, housing, amenities and local development. It is difficult work, involving intense public scrutiny and a broad range of stakeholders who do not always engage constructively.

But well-run councils are one of the biggest levers we have to make New Zealand a better place to live, work and play.

That’s why I’d like to get some high performing business leaders into local government as CEOs, board members and councillors – to serve alongside people from other walks of life. One of my predecessors at Tiwai, Tom Campbell, now serves as Invercargill mayor. Tom could have retired after his successful career in industry but he’s decided instead to serve his community in other ways. I really admire Tom for that.