Welcome to My Net Worth, our regular column on the lives and motivations of our country’s top business, legal and political people, in their own words.

Australian-born Greg Balla moved across the Ditch to New Zealand for work at the age of 30, armed with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a master's in business administration. He stayed for four years (as part of a nearly 18-year stint with building materials and adhesives manufacturer 3M), and nine years later found himself living in Aotearoa again – this time permanently. Here, he initially worked in the healthcare sector, with roles at the Auckland District Health Board and Orion Health. Last year, he joined AoFrio (previously called Wellington Drive Technologies) as chief executive and has since helped the company with its mission to scale new heights for commercial refrigeration through sustainable transformative technologies. AoFrio has sold 10m high-efficiency motors, which – compared to normal motors – have delivered energy savings equivalent to the amount the Huntly power station generates in four and a half years. He is an avid tool collector and has always loved the outdoors. He and wife Rachel are parents to sons Daniel, 17, and Andrew, 16. 

I was born and grew up in Australia, specifically in New South Wales. I lived with my parents and three brothers on a hobby farm about 50km away from everything – the closest town to us was called Camden. My parents are really humble, kind and family-orientated, and I think those are values they imparted to me. 

My brothers and I are all really good friends and we keep in touch regularly, even though I'm here and they're all in Australia. Growing up, we were really good at looking out for each other, so in the school playground, you always had a big brother to look out for you.

My family did a lot of camping and road trips, which I really enjoyed. One time, we got six weeks off school to do one, which was a fantastic trip. That’s a pretty good memory.

At school, I wasn't shy, but I was very inwardly confident. I gave everything a go; I loved sport and was pretty good at it. I was also good at maths and science, but not so flash at English and history.

I think I'm a relatively calm and thoughtful kind of person. I like to listen, but get very energetic once we make decisions about something. I get very excited about the possibility of new things.

Greg Balla celebrating AoFrio's progress towards the target of becoming a great NZ tech company. (Image: Supplied)

When it comes to celebrating business success, I really enjoy the art of telling stories about what worked and what didn’t. I think that's a good way of encouraging people to tell their stories with their peers and laugh about what worked and what didn't work.

Allowing individuals to shine and tell their stories is a really good way to celebrate something that's gone well in an organisation.

When I joined 3M, we didn't have computers on our desks, but within a couple of years, everyone had them. The rate of technology change in that early part of my career was just amazing.

The aspiration and ambition that I have is to turn AoFrio into a great NZ tech company. I know there are many of those, but we have a real opportunity. We're doing great things in terms of helping organisations manage their commercial refrigeration. 

The most common piece of leadership advice I give is that you need to make sure that you work with your team to be clear on the direction that you want to go … and then get out of the way. I tell leaders to always trust their teams to do the right thing and get on with it and do it in a way that is consistent with their organisation’s culture.

Greg Balla exploring the great outdoors with Daniel and Andrew. (Image: Supplied)

On the weekend, I’m often the taxi service for my two teen boys. They're getting to the stage where they can drive themselves around, but I really enjoy doing it because I get the opportunity to talk to them one-on-one and it's a great time.

Any spare time I get, I really enjoy doing DIY. I have just about every tool that exists and love using them when I get the opportunity. Other things I love to do if we have more time on the weekend are tramping and skiing.

Every year, we go on a multi-day family tramp. We try something new every year. We've done many different tramps around Queenstown, but this year we're going to the Whirinaki Forest in the Bay of Plenty.

Rachel, Daniel, Andrew and Greg Balla hiking in the Tongariro National Park. (Image: Supplied) 

I really love the amount of freedom that people have in this country. To see children just walking up and down the footpath or scootering up and down the footpath without their parents anywhere around, you don't get that kind of freedom in any other country, and you certainly couldn't do that in Sydney or Melbourne. 

Living in a city like Auckland means you’re 30 minutes, maximum, from everything – like the beach. It's just an awesome place to be. For someone who loves the outdoors, tramping and skiing, or going to the beaches, this is a fantastic place to be.

As told to Ella Somers. 
This interview has been edited for clarity.