Michael Dakin

Service in Vietnam

He joined the New Zealand Army as a junior NCO in 1956, prior to New Zealand's involvement in the Vietnam War and he was commissioned in 1961. He was posted to Vietnam in February 1966 as an artillery forward observer and promoted to Captain. Deeply affected by his war experiences, and now opposed to New Zealand's involvement in Vietnam, he resigned his commission in 1967.

Growth and Development

He joined the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service in 1967, but he was already developing an interest in the business world and was soon acting as an employers' senior advocate with the New Zealand Employers' Federation. He represented the Federation at the International Labour Organisation conference in Geneva in 1972. From 1973 to 1979, he held executive management positions in L D Nathan Group and New Zealand Industrial Gases (BOCI), where his role was that of change agent. In 1979, he founded his own specialised consulting group, focused on Organisational Development, Systematic Management and Behavioural Change. He served three terms as Vice President of the New Zealand Institute of Management between 1989 and 1992.

Creative management tools

He launched The Professional Management Consulting Group Ltd (Promana) in 1979. Dissatisfied with the behavioural assessment tools available, and discounting those based on 'personality' concepts, Mike set about developing a PC-based suite of surveys and reports that he called Profiles for People (PfP).

The profiles quickly gained popularity in the corporate sector. He followed this with the unique Managers' Mind Map, an adapted Growth Stages & Crises model and the innovative Situations, Leaders & Followers model. The combination of the profile system and these three practical models, plus others created by him, provided powerful consulting tools, which underpinned the firm's offerings.

The Managers' Mind Map, and PfP, continue today as the MDC Framework and MDC Profiling. They are unparalleled as a complete method for improving organisational performance and achievement.

He stepped away from full-time consulting in 1992, but continues to accept selected assignments.

Goldcorp and Promana

In 1988, he led a group to establish the Promana Trust, which represented the interests of investors who had collectively lost millions of dollars following the collapse of Goldcorp in the wake of Black Monday (1987).

Goldcorp had sold "unallocated gold certificates", purportedly holding the real gold in its vaults. However it turned out there was not enough gold to pay out all the investors and about 1600 certificate holders fought back, taking both the company's director Ray Smith, and their bank, the BNZ, to court. Fraud charges were laid against Smith, who was acquitted. He later claimed the BNZ had helped squeeze the company dry in the six months before the towel was thrown in.

Community

Since the death of his wife Elva in 2007, Mike has dedicated time to The Royal New Zealand Artillery Association, where he was elected a Life Member for services to the Association, and veterans generally. He managed the association for three years and initiated their blog, Muzzle Flashes [1], now a full website. In 2011, he led a poignant first-time return of artillery veterans to Vietnam, a journey that brought release and pleasure. He also watches over the interests and welfare of fellow veterans.

His interests include people-watching, sailing, hiking, gardening and management.