My day job is Managing Director of Queensberry, but about 3 years ago I joined the New Zealand Fire Service as a Volunteer Firefighter. Not long after joining I extended my role to include Medical First Response and I now hold the rank of Senior Fire Fighter. This has offered me an amazing array of experiences and learning opportunities. I hadn't expected it, but there are some incredible parallels between handling emergency situations and running high growth organizations like ours. I use this learning daily and have found the stories of jobs I have attended to be powerful metaphors for what we experience daily at work. I'm also sure I've told stories of how I have loved Business since my early teens, in fact probably my whole life. As a result of this fascination, lots of reading and growing up in a family business the receptors in my brain are hard wired to see connections between running a business and almost everything else and have learnt so much from my kids. Don't tell anyone, but there are so many parallels between parenting and HR, developing strategy, day to day management and of course leadership. Over time I hope to share some of these stories in a series of blog posts, I trust you will find them interesting and thought provoking. Please leave your thoughts as comments to these posts. Please also read my Firefighters disclaimer

Finally the OCR (Official Cash Rate) in New Zealand has been dropped to 8.0%. As an exporter we have been doing it tough for years now and maybe this is the relief we need. http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/news/2008/3376920.html I used to joke, in a black humour kind of way, that what exporters needed was a "mad cow" to take the edge off the economy. Nothing else seemed like it would work ... Then with some sadness I realized we already had one, but she was running the country, time would not be on her side forever ... Unfortunately our relief comes only because the economy overall seems to be screwed. Forex data from : http://www.dukascopy.com/ via the Forex Charts Widget

In my last blog entry I mentioned our ambition to be a "legendary" company. This may sound shallow to some, especially those skeptical of company "vision statements" and empty promises from the board as to how "life is going to be different now" For us however we hold this desire very close to our heart, and although growth is important to us, growth without quality and a focus on sound profitability becomes just an issue of ego. We are a family based company, and some of our focus comes from a division of responsibility, but really it comes from a desire to be exceptional in all aspects of our business. Being world class, is not for us defined purely on the basis of size, but being world leading in - HR - Brand Development - Design - IT - Product and service integration - Social Responsibility and Sustainability Having grown up reading stories of other legendary brands and admired and modeled ourself on the values of companies like Apple it is exciting that now we have clients who now hold our brand as one of their "love marks" To read about "love marks" have a look at Kevin Roberts blog and please please read his book "love marks" ... simply inspiring. http://krconnect.blogspot.com

It was with real sadness that I learned of Anita Roddicks death this morning. In truth my reaction was quite unexpected. It is strange that while she was alive I could be quite self righteous in my disregard for her, but suddenly in death my earlier criticism seems petty. In truth whether of not you agree with everything she did, the world and commerce is better off for her being a part of it. I only ever shop in a Body Shop store if the girls want to buy soap for there mum so am not really a fan of the the "brand", but even so I know that my own values have been influenced for the better by as best we can following her lead. For that I will always be eternally grateful. Thanks Anita.

On Thursday I called our Prime Minister, Helen Clark a mad cow, and I want to say sorry. LOL Ok I was going to say that's not fair on real cows and their unfortunate condition, but that would just be another cheap joke at someone else's expense. Funny thing about my blog is not many people leave comments, in fact almost never, but I get quite a number of emails directly and comments from friends and family. On Friday at a party Dad told me I was being a "tough customer" and my Sister said that it "wasn't my style, and would come back to bite me when I was Prime Minister." Something about Karma? Of course that's going way too far as I don't have any aspiration in that area or the face of a Prime Minister but I get their point - it isn't my style, and therefore I am sorry. Having said that I am hardly her biggest fan. She is an effective politician, but I have never heard her give a completely straight answer and as someone who answers her challenges with empty "Sound Bites" she doesn't really deserve my respect. A few years ago I was invited to Wellington to an exporters' meeting that ended with dinner with a number of politicians at the Beehive. You know, where they swap tables with each course. If I remember correctly it was entree's with Hon Jim Sutton, our main with Rt Hon Helen Clark and dessert with Hon Jim Anderton. I'd already had lunch with both Dr Michael Cullen and Hon Paul Swain, when they had on separate occasions visited our business, but didn't know what to expect of this group. I must also admit, however, that I went to Wellington with a very low opinion of Jim Anderton. His party felt at the time like it was staunchly anti business and stood for protecting workers even at the expense of business owners. As a business owner it therefore felt like him against me. I'm not sure how true that was, or even whether my experience was based on any reasonable judgement but he won me around that night. I wouldn't go as far as saying I would vote for him, but he certainly won my respect. He was nice, respectful, full of energy and entertaining. He answered our questions directly and completely, but without necessarily feeling he needed to give in to our position. And even more importantly he was prepared to talk about how his own opinions were formed over time, and how they had changed, especially those times when he had discovered he was wrong. He gave me a strong sense of thinking and caring deeply about the wellness of all New Zealanders. Helen Clarke in contrast was evasive, staunch in her opinions and not at all interested in listening. The bottom line is, I am not saying that she is dishonest, I wouldn't know. What I am saying is that I don't think I have ever felt like I truly knew what she stands for and who she is. If you like, Sound Bite answers and body language that doesn't seem in alignment with her words leave me wondering. I'd be the first to admit I may be wrong, but I am normally also a pretty good judge of character and would like to have gotten to know the real Helen Clarke in the way we did the Rt Hon David Langes of this world. Ok enough said and I am still sorry ... Mad Cow was not nice :-)