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 >>

People with dirty jobs are happier In this movie Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs does two things, first he talks about a day he worked on a farm and amongst other things docks lambs. I saw this show and couldn't believe he did what he did. I thought it was inhumane and as it turns out initially he did too, but in an entertaining fashion he talks through his learning and explains. The second thing he does is he makes the point that in his opinion people with Dirty Jobs are happier. He puts forward a strong case that following the advice "Follow Your Passion" might be bad advice. For some it To View More >>

I was listening to a commentator today on National Radio talking about how the manufacturing sector, and especially exporters in New Zealand were in a really bad way. That doesn't apply to us, but he did help me remember three things about why I came back from Australia to help grow Queensberry. It's her 40th birthday next month, and while she has changed beyond belief these past 10 years she grows up next month. I returned for ... Passion I came back to be part of some thing much bigger than myself. I have been passionate about this industry since I was a child and love photography, love weddings To View More >>

My regret if I did have one would be around business projects I didn't take a leap of faith to take advantage of. I don't however believe in regret as each part of ones life is purely a "step". None of us are perfect, and often we will trip. So long as we get up and do our best to put right what we broke, everything is good. If you like, all these moments become learning's ... they weave the colour and texture into the blanket we call life. I've always been proud of coming from a very entrepreneurial family, and one that has been astute at picking trends. #1 In the early 90's after years on Compuserve To View More >>

The presentation by Merlin Man and John Gruber was called 149 Surprising Ways to Turbocharge Your Blog With Credibility. In reality it was a discussion about authenticity and how you blog. It brought into focus what I've been thinking about for the last couple of months and made me realise what I have been trying to deny for a while now. That is that blogging is probably the most difficult thing I have ever done. I'm used to being successful, but blogging hurts I've had a blessed life. By blessed I mean we worked like crap to provide a great product, have awesome experiences and try like hell To View More >>