INTHEBLACK November 2026 - Magazine - Page 16
MEMBER PROFILE
AN ALIGNMENT APPROACH
Ding describes his strategy as an “alignment
approach to leadership, rather than an
approval approach”.
“I could not be the old-school type of
CFO who says, ‘I have been there and
done that. I know everything. What I say
is absolutely right.’ Instead, I adapted
an alignment approach that allows me
to hear others’ opinions.”
The “CV approach”, as Ding calls it,
is about capturing information and then
verifying facts.
“We have a discussion, then make
a group decision,” he says. “There is no
right or wrong and there is no fighting
for your plan or for my plan. We are not
getting into an argument. We are first
just capturing all the beliefs.
“So, we are discussing beliefs and
key assumptions based on that belief.
That phase is very important. It means
everybody is heard. The second phase
is to verify.”
The verification process involves
figuring out which assumptions are
correct and which are not, ensuring
the group decision is informed by
relevant information and data.
“In that process I can verify that your
assumptions one and three are correct.
And their assumptions four and six are
correct. As for me, a few of my assumptions
are correct, too,” Ding says. Then, the team
firms up its plan around real facts and
with a more accurate understanding
of the challenge. “It is not one plan
against another plan. Instead, we develop
a plan that aligns everybody’s knowledge
and insight.”
That perspective can be broad and
powerful. Ding oversees a portfolio that
includes commercial pricing, financial
reporting, tax, treasury, internal audit,
procurement, insurance and property.
His team of roughly 100 supports
16 INTHEBLACK November 2026
a business that sits across more than
80 sites and serves a vast mix of
almost 100,000 council, residential
and commercial customers.
In his previous role as part of the
finance team of NZ Bus, the model was
dramatically different. That business had
just a few customers: Auckland Council,
Wellington Council and the Snapper
ticketing platform. As a result, the
finance team was significantly smaller.
Now, leading a larger team through
a period of momentous change in an
increasingly complex environment,
Ding has a finance leadership role
that extends well beyond reporting.
The modern CFO, he says, is often
asked to make decisions across functions
they do not directly own. Ding’s approach
is about helping his team, the business
and other stakeholders to understand
what could happen next by arming them
with the information they need to make
the very best decisions, either individually
or as a group.
CULTURE FIRST, THEN STRATEGY
Alignment is more than Ding’s personal
leadership philosophy. It is a culture that
he believes should be of importance to
everyone in organisational leadership positions.
While business education and management
frameworks help people solve conventional
business problems, they say far less about
what Ding calls “emotional problems”.
“Business schools will teach you how
to solve a business problem with the five
whys, the fishbone diagram and so on, to
understand the issues,” he says.
“However, not many places teach you
that you may have to solve something called
an emotional problem.”
This is more important than the business
problem, Ding says, because it is about culture.
“If you have a weak culture that is causing
fear and blame, your people will not give
