Photographers, and my other blogger friends, I have decided to take the "31 Days to a Better Blog challenge" by Pro Blogger. I downloaded the book last week and, having read it, decided it it has a lot to offer, especially at a time I'm considering how to bring more focus and value to my blog. Please Join Me I'd love to find photographers, and any other bloggers, that would like to undertake the challenge with me. If you would like to join me on this exciting and rewarding adventure, you will need to buy the book here, and if you constructively, and honestly, give feedback on my progress To View More >>

I just had a wonderful evening with CEOs from some of New Zealand's best companies. The group was brought together by Better By Design to visit some of the USA's best Design-led and Innovative companies. It's going to be an amazing week, challenging I am sure, but an interesting thing happened tonight: if you like, a small distinction became clear to me. There I was talking to Diego Rodriguez a partner at Ideo, a brilliant design company, and Perry Klebahn a consulting associate professor at Stanford Design School, two great people who were truly gracious in the knowledge they shared. To be honest, To View More >>

Why is it that people spend so much time asking how, and so little time asking why? Did we as kids run out of some predetermined number of "Whys" we had been granted? I know my kids ask me constantly, why dad?, but why? ... Why after why, after why? Nothing unusual, I am sure you did it to your parents, I know I did it to mine ... The question is why did we stop? I am often asked for advice about starting a business, and in the early days would jump in and try to help. I'd give support, and maybe some direction, until I noticed how few people actually did something. I still helped, but only if To View More >>

I was walking the dog this morning and it occurred to me how much of the last week has been full of paradox . In no particular order ... 1, Do you find as often as I do that food that's good for you isn't usually as good for your wallet as food that's not? 2, Business is like a snow ball rolling down a hill: it grows faster the bigger it gets. So why don't we focus on getting the small snow ball right and rolling first? 3, I was shocked to realise a while back, and was reminded often last week, that the information (learning) we most need to hear is often the stuff that irritates us the most. To View More >>

Google is one of those companies I would like to avoid if I could. Not for any rational reason, just that they have become all pervasive and I want to slow them down. Like search, however, most if not all Google apps work really well and are hard to beat. Google Reader is no exception. To understand what it does, you first need an understanding of RSS; if you don't have that, click here. I follow a lot of blogs as I am interested in a number of things, but visiting them directly is impractical and most other RSS clients just didn't stack up. The reader works, so here is an introduction from an To View More >>