John Read, the founder, was a product of the times in which he lived, the Victorian era; so that his business and personal life manifest a humanitarian ethos through, amongst other traits, a desire to improve the well-being of citizens. This made him an engaging and interesting character worthy of research.
But to make sense of his business and personal activity he had to be situated within the economic activities of the town of Thames, New Zealand and its environs. Read was, as we all are, a participant in the cycles of life, economic, domestic, and personal. As the commercial and business activity of the town, and the physical infrastructure of the town itself, was built, grew, was sustained, declined, and slowly rose again, so was Read’s business a reflection of this cycle.
Such economic activity showed the predictability of economies based upon commodity exploitation; gold, timber and other natural resources. But, with this awareness, intruded a reality – an ethnological reality – a reality of peoples – in this case, tangata whenua, tangata Maori.
Read emerges as a thoroughly typical Victorian businessman, operating, initially, in an opportunity charged business environment; he was responsive to the prevailing business dynamics, entrepreneurial, very situationally aware, and well-connected. But he was also a modest individual who did not seek the spotlight, had ordinary expectations for his business, he was grounded in a deep Faith, and was driven by integrity and honesty with a strong desire to assist others.
If there is a take-out lesson from Read’s story, it is that the fundamental values that drive successful and enduring business don’t change, perhaps best encapsulated in the notion of ‘service above self’.
A note from the Author …..
The process of researching a topic, and then turning the research findings into a narrative, is not a task to be undertaken lightly, if for no other reason than the writer’s exposure to rabbit holes into which one might fall.
Some years ago, not long after I commenced to work for Read Bros Hardware, I felt compelled to research the history of the venerable old family-owned hardware business known today as Read Bros Hardware, thinking, perhaps, that I might author a brief history of the firm, and this, maybe, in time for the 150th anniversary celebrations in 2017, the anniversary of the gold discovery and founding of the Read Bros business. And here we are a few years later.
Russell Skeet
