One Great Man

"Steve was the leader we all aspire to be. He was absolutely fearless in battle (in his case a real war, the rest of us just have to face the boardroom!). He was always dedicated to his cause of the moment - whether this being saving lives under threat in the Hotel Intercontinental in Kabul, providing relief to families in earthquake ravaged Kaikoura, or fighting fires in the Port Hills.

Steve was the consummate professional. Standards had meaning. Excellence was always aimed for, but he would accept what circumstances would allow him to achieve, as long as it was his best effort.

Humble to a fault. Steve was humility personified. He would talk about his failures with a wry smile, but he would always talk about success in terms of what others had achieved alongside him.

His family mattered to him. I worked with him when he was pretty much told by the SAS to have a long break after the tour to Afghanistan when he had the tip of his ear shot off. We gave him a job at the Army Leadership Centre but told him to put his family first for two years. He accepted our support gratefully, but never abused it.

Working with leadership courses in the outdoors, Steve was an incredible mentor to students. His calmness, sense of humour and appreciation for little things helped others see a different side to life - what we would now call mindfulness."