Zac set some ambitious goals for Barkers: sales and brand growth, to dress the All Blacks (and other prominent sports teams like the All Whites, Kiwi League team, NZ Olympic and Commonwealth Games teams), and to be recognised as one of New Zealand’s Best Workplaces. To that end, Zac put into motion a series of workplace changes to motivate and energise staff, improve performance and reinforce pride in the Barkers brand. In 2008 Barkers first participated in the JRA Best Workplaces Survey, and against strong competition immediately ranked as the third best medium-large workplace. In 2009, Barkers followed up this achievement by winning the medium-large workplace category on the back of strong improvements in employee engagement levels – strong enough in fact for Barkers to be the most improved organisation in the medium-large workplace category. With an innate ability to connect with a range of people on a personal level, Zac’s leadership through this transformation has been key to its growing success.