“The Divergent Thinker” Award will be awarded for the first time in 2020 as a part of the end of year student prize giving event at Puketapu School, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. With our daughter leaving Puketapu School at the end of 2020, this marks the end of 31 years of intensive involvement with this incredible little New Zealand country school (which includes my mother having been the Deputy Principal of this school for 15 years); and our family has…
Many authors who have a focus on ‘leadership’ as their chosen writing topic within the LinkedIn environment advocate that “everyone” within an organisation should be considered potential effective leaders – that each of us has “leadership potential” inbuilt in us, that only needs to be nurtured in the right way for it to come forth. The key point that I wish to raise in this article is that despite all the training possible/ available that is engaged in by or…
A short article this time around, given my time constraints this weekend – yet one which I hope particularly small business owners will gain some value from. There is a clear lesson to be learned from this story… I was informed during the week just gone that a particular Kiwi business owner had engaged a trusted and respected external business consultant to advise them on defining their future involvement in their business – a business which they had developed from…
Quite often I see reference to “the truth” or “the universal truth” written in LinkedIn articles/ posts. These expressions fascinate me. The fact of the matter is that there is no such phenomenon as a “single truth that is applicable to all human beings”. Such a notion is a fallacy – perhaps one of the greatest fallacies of all time. Rather, within each of us we have values/ beliefs/ perceptions that we hold to be true for ourselves, and so…
It continues to amuse and bemuse me, as to the ongoing tendency for many people to avoid/ deflect/ reject/ ignore the offered perceptions/ opinions/ experience/ help of others. Increasingly I see this pattern intensifying in relation to the inter-generational exchange of knowledge and ideas. During 2017 I experienced a stand-out piece of work produced by one of the students who I was teaching at the Eastern Institute of Technology. Such was the depth of perception and level of creativity behind this…
I continue to enjoy the various posts/ articles published in the LinkedIn environment that centre on the topic of what comprises “good governance”. Some time ago I contributed my thoughts on this important topic also – and included a Chapter on this subject in my first book that I had published in 2016. I think it’s worthwhile highlighting here a few salient points in respect of what constitutes “good governance” with a view to help particularly directors of SME scale businesses. Here’s…
Particularly larger organisations often operate with multiple levels/ layers of formal documentation which defines and directs how the given organisation – and stakeholders within – is/ are expected to operate. It is not atypical for these organisations to have: * A Company Constitution * A Shareholder Agreement * Policies * Standard Operating Procedures Whilst I am a firm advocate of solidifying the modus operandi of an organisation by bringing documents of the above nature into effect; I have one over-riding…
I read a lot of posts/ articles in the LinkedIn environment about the importance of cultivating a positive/ supportive workplace culture, but rarely do I see any visual evidence of such cultures existing. As many will already know, I am a strong proponent of striving and driving towards achieving workplaces which put people first – and business objectives second. This orientation motivated me to write my first book in 2016. Among other pursuits I’m presently managing the processing of the…
Having been a business leader in various industries and now a teacher of business in the education sector, with the recent public disclosure of Capital Gains Tax being advocated by a working group of tax specialists to central government; I think it’s about time that I spelt-out a fundamental principle of human psychology in the hope that at least the more astute decision-makers out there think deeply about the likely impact/ consequences of what has been proposed. Human beings strive…
As both a business person and someone who teaches commerce at a tertiary level I’m still struggling with the overall benefit of Artificial Intelligence for society at large. This is my perspective on AI at this point in its roll-out… 1. It will mainly benefit employers. 2. It is being used/ looked at closely by business owners as a way of negating or reducing employee engagement. 3. It is being viewed by employers as a way of avoiding the complexities of people management…