People Matter ∴ Do Good

Lead a vivid life that does good

Month: January 2007 (Page 1 of 2)

Candidate for US President

27 January 2007 /

ObamaBarack Obama is new face of the democratic party in the US.

An article from the  Chicago Sun-Times leads with a story entitled "Evangelical? Obama's faith too complex for simple label Evangelical?" in which they asked him if he was an evangelical.

His answer was quite cool.

He continued his answer: "My faith is complicated by the fact that I didn't grow up in a particular religious tradition. And so what that means is when you come at it as an adult, your brain mediates a lot, and you ask a lot of questions.

"There are aspects of Christian tradition that I'm comfortable with and aspects that I'm not. There are passages of the Bible that make perfect sense to me and others that I go, 'Ya know, I'm not sure about that,'" he said, shrugging and stammering slightly.

The article concludes with

But for Obama, as for many of us, faith is complicated, messy, a work in progress. And, if we're honest about it, the standard labels just don't fit.

How true I thought.

What did you learn today?

18 January 2007 /

I was asked this question by one of my team the other day, and I thought what an awesome question. I had learnt things that day but looking back and reflecting on them helps me cement them in my mind.

What did you learn today?

Did you learn anything? Even something small? If you didn't are you developing as a leader? What would happen if you asked yourself every day? What would happen if you asked different people you work with what they learnt every now and then?

Ask the question!

Saying things to wind people up.

18 January 2007 /

"I don't think you have thought through this" were his words after I had told him that we didn't need to discuss an issue and that we would handle it on the day.

He said it half heartedly, but he made a good point. He needed to talk about it. When I say "we'll discuss it on the day" it winds him up.

You see according to the styles of influence, cognitive scale, a high abstract person (like myself 99%) is always thinking and generally has thought about it and doesn't need to verbalise, whereas a mid-range cognitive person (my friend) needs to verblise it to make sure they have understood it and are clear on the plan.

Me basically telling him I have a plan leave it til the day is not what he needed to hear. Him telling me I hadn't thought about it was not what I wanted to hear. If it had gone on, we would have been frustrated with each other for no real reason.

The result – we talked and his views were the same as my thoughts – both happy.

How easy it is to miss these points sometimes!

Is it a rock, a stone or a pebble?

14 January 2007 /

Smallrock When you look at this picture what do you see? What does it bring to mind?

I found this rock/stone/pebble while sitting on the sea wall at the Tauranga Marina the other day watching the world go by.

I wondered if the rock used to be a part of a bigger rock. I wondered if it was man made or how it was created. I wondered how old it was and what it weighs. I wondered what its composite materials were?

When you look at it what do you see?

Do you think I should try and sell it on Trade Me?

I post another day about what I thought after I wondered all these things. (Maybe)

What if apple did a phone?

11 January 2007 /
Introducing iPhone

They are going to and it is called iPhone.

This is going to be a cool device. It combines a PDA, iPod & Phone into one. Super Hi-Res touch screen.

This is one sexy little device. Will be released in US in June and probably not here until next year.

[Hat tip: Rod Drury]

A quest for an ingenious business

10 January 2007 /

If you buy a Lighter then you would expect it to have gas in it – right? Well when I purchased one from the Oasis SuperetteOasissuperette  in Papamoa it didn’t. I went back and they put it right for me without blinking. They were really helpful and its an enjoyable experience going to their store.

The service I experience at the Oasis was great, if not very good, better than I had experienced at a dairy or superette in years. And yet it was not remarkable or ingenious (save for the fact that I now tell you about it)

I would go back to that store as opposed to the store 50 metres down the road (and recommend that you do), but I wont drive for 20 minutes to go back the next time I'm in Tauranga

A recently read book by Seth Godin called “Purple Cow” ^ which says the “remarkable is the opposite of very good”, and this has caused me to think about our ^ desire to provide ingenious services.

The America Heritage Dictionary ^ defines ingenious as “1. Marked by inventive skill and imagination. 2. Having or arising from an inventive or cunning mind; clever: an ingenious scheme.”

In business I believe that Ingenious means providing remarkable and inventive and edgy and stunning service.

Ingenious companies care about their customers and are truly creative about meeting their needs. The type of service they provide gets noticed and talked about and ingenious businesses are known to be the experts, the geniuses, the elite, the ONLY place to get that service.

I am starting a short-term quest to post comments on businesses that are ingenious and those that aren’t and why.

A funny oxymoron

5 January 2007 /

The camping ground that we are staying at as a strict no Alcohol policy. You CAN NOT bring alcohol onto the site.

So imagine my surpirse when the hand gel in the toilets is alcohol based. You would think you could get a different kind of hand gel.

Campsign

Camphandcleaner

Family Holiday

4 January 2007 /

Today we (the Nicol family) started a traditional kiwi holiday at Papamoa.

Camping1

CampinglaptopOK, given the fact I am blogging from our caravan, maybe its not quite as traditional as kiwi holidays used to be.

A review of my blog

4 January 2007 /

"In short I thought I would start shouting into the wind…"

And with those words my blog began. Like most things in my life my blog has proven to be random, distracted thoughts. It comes and goes depending on my mood and has had three major changes to its look and feel.

It will continue to change because I love change. It will continue to be random and change in writing style because I am always learning and experiencing different things.

Anyway here are a few of my favourate posts etc from each month since Aug last year.

Old Posts

Old & New  … Lost after 3 years is the new car smell, it now has one of those car airfreshener smells . A smell that you know is hiding a potentially more potent odour, the way lighting a match in the toilet tries to hide a foul stench… read more [nb this is my most commented post a whole 3 comments]

Origin Pacific falls from the Never Never Land … In my opinion Origin was doomed to failure before their first flight left the ground. They tried to behave and act like super powers, then align themselves with super powers like Qantas, rather than establishing profitable niche markets … read more

Authentic Community …I think this small business called agóge. This business with people from all over the world, with varying educations, from different religions and diverse upbringings is starting to become an authentic community … read more

Woolgathering at 17,000 ft about the Marlborough Sounds … I sit in the ATR, transfixed at the sight of the Marlborough Sounds out my window and grateful for the relief from a tiring day that woolgathering about the Sounds allows. … read more

Flying an Alpha 160 … "It is like climbing into a new car when you have been used to driving a car that is 25 years old." … read more

Most enjoyable book

Blue like Jazz – Donald Miller.

Best quote

"I’ve always thought smack in the middle of a contradiction is a great place to be!"  Bono – U2

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