The New Zealand Herald ran a story this morning about Kevin Roberts joining the board of New Zealand's Telecom. Some stories honestly just make me go, OMG, what? Here is one of my business heroes joining the board of a company (Telecom) that "I hate to love". I continue to support them despite myself, and despite the way they present themselves to their clients. But I would love to love them. In the interests of full disclosure, our company are pretty big telecommunication users. We are heavily dependent on Telecom for our international telephone presence, and we're big users of high speed internet. To View More >>

Recently I wrote about mates being awesome, and the best thing about joining the Fire Service is the camaraderie that comes with it. Honestly, I have never been involved in anything that has such a strong sense of community, and that holds the value of "having each other's back" so highly. It is an incredible organization for that reason. Our company, Queensberry, also has an amazing culture that fosters the feeling of one family and of looking after each other. We are very proud of the fact that, in all the past entries we've had in the "Best Places to Work Awards" we have been in the TOP 10, To View More >>

Well we retired our second (backup) appliance last night. Old even for a fire truck at around 30 years, but amazingly on only 60,000 km. As a fire station in a semi urban, semi rural area she has operated on station for the last 8 years as rural fire fighting appliance. I heard someone recently describe her as a "man's truck", a stubborn beast that had to be "driven". Despite no power steering, no engine braking, and the belching of black smoke, she was really great fun to drive. I think it's funny that at times like these I realise how sentimental I am. On one hand she's just a hunk of old metal To View More >>

Someone asked me the other day what Twitter is ... I swear my jaw almost dropped. So from the Twitter FAQ ... What is it? Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? Bloggers can use it as a mini-blogging tool. Ok I must admit when I heard of it myself, there was a bit of a yawn and disinterest stuck around for quite a while ... but for some reason a month ago I decided to go have a more serious look ... and I must say, it is strangely addictive. LOL not To View More >>

I talk with people a lot about website creation, online communities and blogging and I’m constantly surprised at the differing attitudes to what works, what’s trendy and often what’s affordable. On one side of the room, the geeks say Web 2.0 is about the technology; on the other the marketing people and professors reckon it’s about the people. But isn't it about the purpose? Why are we doing this, and who is it for? Restaurants are like this. You can build the most elegant dining room, back it with the best kitchen and staff, invite all the popular people – but they won't come back unless To View More >>