Bruce McIntyre

Bruce McIntyre bought Macpac in 1973 when he was 19. Living the classic entrepreneurial narrative, he dropped out of university in his first year and purchased Macpac with money his parents raised by putting their own house up as collateral. After making design partners out of a group of Canterbury men venturing into Andes, the company flourished on the back of their customer-centric pack, and export orders poured in.

But by the late 1980s, Bruce was disillusioned with traditional business culture and instigated a prolonged cultural and organisational reform project which transformed the Macpac workplace into an open, highly participative, team-based, human-focused environment.

A journey of hope, a journey to brilliance. Years ago a father watched his son looking at himself in the mirror, pulling faces. When asked what he saw in his eyes the boy said he saw God. McIntyre learnt to close down his feelings from a society hat taught him that big boys don’t cry, that people need to be tough and that emotions can’t be shown.

Macpac begun McIntyre on a journey, a journey where people can work together, share their skills and share empathy. We’re born with an innate ability to perform wonders, and yet as adults we use only a portion of our abilities. This is great news, as McIntyre says “if we’re working at our full potential and making such a bad show of things, that would be a tragedy”. Given our potential all we need to do is find ways to turn on the ability, the skills and the potential of our entire being – and the way to do that is through education. Education reaches us at the most formative time in our lives.

But education was developed 500 years ago and was all about literacy and numeracy – tasks that involve only the left hemisphere of the brain, logical and linear. So how do we move on and use all parts of the brain, the right hemisphere that is the world of here and now – the whole of life. The limbic system that’s emotional. The reptilian brain, the frontal lobes…

How do we upgrade ourselves? It’s no wonder our kids find school boring and irrelevant – authoritarianism, lack of respect and rote learning don’t let them develop the whole of themselves.

Imagine brilliant education…

McIntyre gathered together a group of ex-educators to imagine a vision for a new education based on three main principals. A supporting operating system, a restoration of personal software and plugging the students into the entire global village. 18 months ago the first school, Seven Oaks, was opened and is delivering students with enthusiasm, personal growth, social abilities, creativity and a connection with nature.