Blog Archives

I’m old enough to have experienced a significant number of governments in power. Left-wing, right-wing, coalitions and the like. At my age, my neck is perennially sore from the whiplash caused by subsequent governments focusing on undoing legislation their…

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When I started working in the technology sector about 15 years ago, there were very few early-stage technology startups in New Zealand, apart from a few standout examples like Xero and Diligent Boardbooks. For this reason, I focused on…

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I’ve never been a big fan of pies. I know that sounds like sacrilege for a Kiwi bloke (especially one who lives in a rural area where pies are considered haute cuisine) but it’s just my personal taste. I’ll…

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I tend to be a bit of a sceptic about things and hence typically don’t get excited by whatever social media motivational theme du jour is doing the rounds. I was never an ice bucket challenge participant, I try…

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The other day, I received an email from a friend of mine. This friend is a highly successful technology entrepreneur. He has started, grown, and sold several businesses over the years. In fact, his last business sold for an…

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I’m often told that I’m addicted to running. Those around me suggest that my proclivity for long-distance running stems from some hardwired predilection for addiction that is wired into my DNA. Personally, I think it’s far simpler than that…

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The other day I had a truly exciting email. It seems that I have a long-lost uncle in Nigeria who, unbeknownst to me, was a wealthy industrialist. Sadly, my newfound uncle recently passed away, leaving his entire multimillion-dollar estate…

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Recently I spent a week or so in Hamilton attending Fielddays, the Southern Hemisphere’s largest agricultural show. Fielddays is always lots of fun – tens of thousands of people through the gates, hundreds of exhibitors selling everything from combine…

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This weekend my wife and I watched the movie Leave No Trace.  The plot follows a military veteran father with post-traumatic stress disorder who lives in the forest with his young daughter. The two have escaped modern society and…

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I grew up in the 1980s. Hence one of the most formative movies of my teen years was the Hollywood classic Karate Kid. For those youngsters today, there was indeed a Karate Kid movie back in the 80s long…

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