Community and connection at the heart of Leadership Network member's journey
To mark the Leadership Network's 20th anniversary, we're revisiting the archives and reconnecting with some of its early members to reflect on how the network has shaped their lives and careers—and how they, in turn, have helped shape the network. This month, we catch up with Daniel Harrison (Taranaki Iwi, Te Pakakohi, Ngāti Ruanui, Te Atiawa), who joined the Leadership Network in 2007 and played an integral role in shaping its kaupapa and strengthening its commitment to diversity.
Daniel was a member of the Leadership Network from 2007 until graduating in 2021
Somebody on the bus needed to step up and play Santa. Daniel Harrison gladly accepted the nod, even if he jokes he was slightly "voluntold" the job was his.
The Asia New Zealand Foundation Leadership Network trip to Hanoi had included a visit to an orphanage, where a network member had an existing relationship.
The group, Daniel recalls, headed to the back of the building, with gifts of hats to distribute.
There, many children lived with complex disabilities, often overlooked by the standard flow of international visitors to the front of the building.
For Daniel, the experience was a profound lesson in equity.
"When you stopped to give them not just a hat, but genuine attention - a little bit of aroha - the connection was instant," he says.
Fifteen years later, he still thinks about it.
That understanding of how to cut through barriers showed up again in China, travelling with Prime Minister John Key’s trade delegation on behalf of the Asia New Zealand Foundation.
The formal meetings were carefully managed, and Chinese officials were measured, even guarded.
Then Ngā Tūmanako performed kapa haka.
"It made them smile," he says.
"It's hard not to feel favourably about something when you're genuinely enjoying it."
The 2019 Te Ao Māori Hui
Years before that prime minister's flight, Daniel was already using that philosophy to bring people together in Auckland.
He was tasked with growing the Lunar New Year Lantern Festival and Diwali - the Hindu festival of lights - into city-backed celebrations.
It wasn’t a straightforward time to be in event management, and the festivals moved venues constantly as the city was a building site ahead of the Rugby World Cup.
But the crowds kept growing.
"Over the years, you'd see these kids go from little kids to the big kids on stage. You'd just see the pride that the city was recognising their place, saying this community matters enough to get behind and providing them with a platform to share their culture," Daniel says.
"That inclusion."
He watched sponsors, councillors and neighbours shift from needing to be convinced that "Asia was relevant" to queueing for dumplings and boogieing to Bollywood tunes.
Daniel’s own whakapapa connects him to Taranaki, and by the time he was involved with the Asia New Zealand Foundation he could see who was missing from the room.
The Foundation and its Leadership Network, he says, initially drew from a relatively narrow demographic.
He was part of a small group of Māori members who recognised a strategic gap and began nudging for change, arguing the network needed to be genuinely inclusive of all New Zealanders, and that Māori and Pacific communities offered a point of difference that could strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with Asia.
That thinking fed into a research project and, eventually, a te ao Māori hui at Waitangi, which Daniel helped pull together alongside other Māori members and staff.
He acknowledges the Foundation has "come a long way" and credits the Māori staff who have since taken up that kaupapa.
“If Māori do well, the whole country will do better,” he says.
Daniel spent five years driving community events, such as Diwali and Lantern Festival, for Auckland's economic development agency ATEED (now Tātaki Auckland Unlimited) before transitioning into economic development and later the Department of Conservation, where he specialised in building high-value partnerships between business, government and mana whenua.
Daniel: "I think the reason I joined the network actually came true."
More recently, he has been working as the Partnership and Development Lead for AATEA Solutions, a kaupapa Māori consultancy renowned for creating cultural capital through strategic advisory and co-design.
In this role, he focuses on driving Māori participation in the tech sector, navigating data sovereignty, and cultivating strategic relationships.
Central to his work is providing specialised advisory services to achieve high-value partnerships across the Crown–Māori space, the private sector, and wider industry ecosystems—stabilising tentative connections and advancing collaborative innovation.
He is also an elected trustee for Taranaki Iwi, a role he has held for more than a decade, through pre-settlement, through the establishment period, and into governance across commercial entities aligned with the iwi.
A chance reconnection with a Taranaki whānaunga on the China delegation, he says, was part of what inspired him to stand for iwi governance.
He and his wife Chrissy have four children, at home in Birkenhead in Auckland.
"I think the reason I joined the network actually came true," he says.
"That it would help my capability and capacity to give back and contribute more to the things that I care about. I feel like it's done that.”
The Asia New Zealand Foundation Leadership Network equips the next generation of Kiwi leaders to excel in Asia. We provide members with the connections, knowledge and confidence to lead New Zealand’s future relationship with the region.
The Leadership Network's Rethinking Leadership Hui offer a unique opportunity to explore the leadership challenges facing New Zealand and Asia, and to share insights, experiences and stories with fellow Leadership Network members. Rethinking Leadership Hui are typically held once a year.
