Thoughts

I was in Bali in June last year, chasing some much-needed sun in the midst of the dark New Zealand winter. I took a surfboard with me, of course. Like about one million other people who had the same idea that I did. I’d never surfed in Bali before, so I didn’t really know what […]

You cannot not impact. This is one of those sayings that you can’t refute, right? I first heard it when I did my Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) training years ago, and it’s stuck with me ever since. Whenever you show up, you have an impact. Whether you consciously intend to or not. Even your silence, or […]

Where my driveway ends at the footpath, there are two high walls on either side. So, when I drive my car out, I can’t see who might be walking along, or maybe flying past on their skateboard. So I deliberately slow down and gently nudge the front of my car out beyond the walls, so […]

The late novelist David Foster Wallace tells a wonderful story about ‘incuriosity’ in his commencement speech This Is Water: There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys, how’s the water?” And the two young fish […]

  When you’re considering how to generate your next career opportunity, the challenge is often about knowing where to look. Here are some ideas about how to go about it in a clever way that maximises your reach, and your time. Most people think too narrowly when they’re looking for the next role. It limits […]

People often say to me “you’re so lucky, you’re always on holidays!” Well, it’s probably true that I do take more time out than most people. But it has nothing to do with luck. It’s by design. If you’re like a lot of people, you can get to the end of the year and wonder, […]

As we near the end of 2016, I’ve summarised a few gems that you might find useful to dip in and out of: My Top Five Most Popular Blog Posts of 2016 A Map to Change: How to make a behaviour change by getting ‘under the hood’. Shine A Light: Show people their potential and […]

Here’s how I take an idea and turn it into a useful post. Let’s take my recent post Opportunity and Agency This one started as a random idea in a lecture I was giving for my Auckland MBA cohort. During the class discussion, the idea came to me, so I drew it up on the […]

  I’ve recently returned from my annual windsurfing trip to Gnaraloo, in the North West of Western Australia. Eventful as always, this year provided something extra special… I was sailing out to sea at high speed, about 500m from shore, and was looking for the next swell to ride back to the reef. It was […]

Opportunity abounds. We just need to cultivate our own agency to attract it. In my MBA class the other night, the students and I were looking at the forces and trends shaping the future of work and careers. The discussion naturally led to what the implications were for them, and how they might act or […]