Blog Archives

I’ve never been a big fan of either playing or spectating traditional Kiwi sports. After a high school career that saw me achieve the incredible milestone of missing almost every single Physical Education session during my time at Tawa…

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The other morning I found myself crouched behind a tussock, rifle balanced against my shoulder, lining up a shot at a rabbit. Now, before anyone calls the SPCA, let me confess that I don’t take particular joy in knocking…

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I’ve been fortunate to travel widely around the world and one thing that has always interested me is the relative differences in service levels across countries. Visit Cairo and, despite walking around in the midst of squalor, the people…

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I remember a time many years ago when my wife and I were buying a new house. My brother, a lifetime builder with decades of calloused hands and a healthy dose of blunt honesty, came to check the place…

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About 30 years ago, I decided to jump on a plane and perform the traditional Kiwi rite of passage. I embarked on my OE with an intent on seeing the world, meeting lots of people and getting up to…

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It was a few years back at one of those glossy San Francisco tech conferences, the sort where the air smells faintly of kombucha and the keynote speakers all have a net worth that begins with a “B.” I’d…

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My father lived a privileged childhood as an only child, coddled by a family convinced of his destined greatness. They provided every intellectual opportunity imaginable, and he became a polyglot, voracious reader, music lover, and connoisseur of life’s finer…

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At Cactus, we’ve always had a cast of characters working for us. One that stands out in my memory was a woman who had spent decades in the apparel industry. She was older than the rest of us, and…

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I grew up in simpler times, when our television choices were limited to the imaginatively named TV One and TV Two. Much of what aired was locally produced: smart, high-quality shows like Gliding On and Mastermind, alongside glossier fare…

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I often, in my various board roles, use the saying about turkeys not voting for Christmas. Generally, I use the metaphor when talking about an organisation’s appetite, or otherwise, for making hard calls amidst the pressure from various stakeholder…

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