Michael Dakin
Michael Farrell Dakin (Mike) is a retired Royal New Zealand Artillery officer, Vietnam veteran and management consultant. Born 25 June 1933 in Hobart, Tasmania, he emigrated to New Zealand at the age of 16. In 1954, at the age of 21, he and Elva Jeanne Leach married; their marriage produced two much-loved sons.
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. Highly successful, 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, focussed on Organisational Development, Systematic Management and Behavioural Change.
