If he and his fellow owners were "in it for dividends and profit", then they were in the wrong game, he said this week.
"But this is a case of giving back. It’s the same for the new group we’ve brought on board. They are all keen to give back and help. We want the Highlanders to again be contenders.
"For me personally, it’s about loyalty and passion. I’ve got a lot out of Otago and Central Otago and it’s nice to return some of that faith," he said.
Mr Kean, who has sold down some shares, continues as a co-owner of the Highlanders, which has seen two new ownership groups — one led by former All Black Marc Ellis, and the other led by businessman Chris Gallaher.
And there was always the "free advice" provided after the Highlanders lost a match. "That advice isn’t always helpful but it’s certainly free and there’s plenty of it."
Mr Kean believed the Highlanders might battle again next season but, by 2025, would have built the nucleus of a highly competitive squad.
His association with the franchise is a small part of Mr Kean’s 30-year business career.
He credited his brother Ray, former Otago rugby coach Gordon Hunter and former Lion chief executive and chairman Sir Douglas Myers with instilling in him a mantra he maintained to this day.
"Dad died when I was 22, so Ray took on a lot of the ‘older brother’ duties. I saw how Gordie brought teams together and created an environment where everyone was in it together. And Douglas was a real innovator and thinker who believed in surrounding himself with good people and giving them autonomy. He was a fantastic mentor," he said.
Adopting a mantra of "learning, earning and fun", Mr Kean fashioned a career where he had a preference to be known as a leader rather than a manager.
"Leaders instil their knowledge and experience in their staff, with trust and loyalty then a natural consequence. People don’t have to earn your trust. When you give them yours, you’ll get it back.
"If you don’t have at least two of ‘learning, earning and fun’, then you’re probably in the wrong job."
Mr Kean’s paternal grandparents, Mick and Maggie, came from County Kilkenny in Ireland and owned several hotels in Dunedin. His mother’s parents, John and Ellen Gregan, also came from Ireland and bought a farm in the Hunter Hills near Waimate.
When Mr Kean was 8, his parents Noel and Eileen moved the family to Bannockburn, where they had taken on the licence of the Bannockburn Hotel. He is the youngest of six children.
That was in 1965 and Mr Kean’s first memory was of he and his brothers and sisters being driven to St John’s Primary School in Cromwell by his father "because the school bus refused to pick us up. In those days there was quite a differentiation between those who lived in Bannockburn and the Cromwellians," he said.
After a stint at Cromwell Primary School, it was off to St Kevin’s College in Oamaru, where he boarded for five years, playing both 1st XV rugby and 1st XI cricket.
In 1975, with him at prop, the St Kevin’s 1st XV beat arch-rivals Waitaki Boys’ twice in one season, the first time that had been achieved in 50 years.
Boys entering St Kevin’s College sat a scholarship exam which, if successful, paid for all costs for the duration of their time there.
"The bloke that won it was expelled in the fifth form," he recalled. "The runner-up was Neil Finn, who ended up winning a scholarship to Sacred Heart instead. If he’d come to St Kevin’s, I could have been in Crowded House," he quipped.
Two years at the University of Otago were followed by a stint working on the Clyde Dam and then in Dunedin with the Ministry of Works before Mr Kean joined Speight’s Brewery in 1986 as a representative on the road, servicing hotels in Port Chalmers and South and West Otago.
Various roles with the brewery followed — looking after all South Island sports clubs and all licensing trusts, Otago-Southland sales manager, Otago-Southland area manager, South Island sales and then regional director, and then a move to Auckland via Christchurch in late 1997 to take the reins as national sales director, on to Harvard University where he graduated with the equivalent of an MBA, a role as managing director of New Zealand Wines and Spirits and then managing director of Lion Nathan before his final appointment in Melbourne in 2011.
He spent three years in Melbourne heading National Foods, a subsidiary of Lion Nathan National Foods. He oversaw 4000 employees and an annual $3.5billion turnover. In 2014 he returned home to begin a career in governance.
Then, as now, Mr Kean said he always strove to be learning, to have one or two projects on the go in an effort to be a better leader.
Mr Kean’s proudest moment in business was bringing all of the divisions within Lion Nathan together under the one umbrella.
"There were some doubters, but it worked brilliantly, and we had a golden decade after the amalgamation."
At that point (2014) Mr Kean had completed almost 30 years with Lion and felt the time was right to change direction, despite being young to retire from the corporate world at 56.
Having already secured a position as a director on the board of New Zealand Rugby, Mr Kean was offered governance roles with several other entities, some of which he accepted.
His former directorships include those with Sanford, A.J. Hackett, Southfuels and Northfuels, Carrick Wines, All Blacks Experience and Brick Lane Brewing. He served six years on the New Zealand Rugby Board.
Mr Kean is chairman of Scapegrace Gin, the Lion Foundation and the Highlanders and is a director of Trojan Holdings and Freightways.
Through his background, he had a strong understanding of the difference between management and governance, he said.
"Having been on the management side, I can empathise with business decision-makers and be a lot more solution-based.
"And when I was in management, I knew some directors I didn’t like so I don’t want to be like them.
Asked his thoughts on business in New Zealand post-Covid, he said business was largely still in good shape.
"There are some fantastic CEOs and boards, but we’ve got to think a bit bigger. Business took a knock during Covid. We’re at the end of the line, there were supply chain issues and some had to look at their operating model. But, overall, we’re doing well. New Zealand businesspeople are always sought after on the international stage."
A keen lawn bowler — he won 14 centre titles and a bronze medal in the fours at the national tournament — he was the manager of the New Zealand men’s team from 1997 to 2002 and was a national selector through until 2008.
He has part-owned several thoroughbred horses, none better than Nature Strip, a stellar performer at Group One level.
Nature Strip won The Everest at Randwick in 2021, said to be the richest race in the world with a total prize purse of $NZ16million, and the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot in June last year.
At 65, Mr Kean has no thoughts of retirement.
"The plan is to keep the brain active. I’ve got great family support so there is no reason not to keep going."
Mr Kean’s wife Judy, whom he met when he was with the Ministry of Works in Cromwell and who had a hair salon during the dam-building years, works as his PA.
Their son Patrick, a marketing and management graduate from the University of Otago, become engaged on a trip to New York last week with his bride-to-be Victoria initially causing Mr Kean some angst.
"My biggest rival when I was with Lion was DB Breweries. When I first met Victoria, she said that ‘you might know my dad’. Her surname is Blake and I immediately thought of Sir Peter Blake, who I had a bit to do with when Lion and Steinlager sponsored the Round the World races and then the America’s Cup.
"Her father wasn’t Sir Peter but rather Brian Blake, who was my adversary at DB Breweries. Funny really."
Patrick manages the two bars Mr Kean owns in Auckland.
Their Auckland-based daughter Anna, also an Otago marketing and management graduate, is expecting the Keans’ first grandchild next month.
