Charles Dickens is one of the most famous writers ever to take pen to paper and is often regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. One of my favourite stories by Dickens is A Christmas Carol. I loved Disney’s remake of it as a child and the message behind the story has always stuck with me…especially around Christmas time. For most of us in the western world, the Christmas and New Year holiday period is often a period of reflection and (more…)

Conflict management is something that most of us aren’t very good at, largely because we generally shy away from confrontation and it’s not really in our nature to rock the boat.  It’s also one of those leadership skills that we don’t get to put into practice all that often and, like any skill, to become good at it, we must practice, practice, practice.  If conflict management is something you’d like to become more comfortable with, read on.  I’ve provided a simple framework that will assist you in dealing with (more…)

It must have been the winter of 2008.  It was a cold one and my wife and I decided to break up the winter and head to Fiji for a week.  So we packed up our 7 month old daughter and off we went.  My outstanding memories from Fiji were a cockerel who crowed every morning at 5am (grrrr!!!), the amazing friendliness of the people, the beautiful island itself and a tiny book stall in the lobby of a hotel…the name of which I have altogether forgotten. (more…)

There was one evening some time ago when I was pretty exhausted and all I wanted to do was sit down and watch a little mindless TV.  I was flicking through the channels when I came across a programme about a Kiwi bloke in Ireland.  Being from Ireland myself it immediately caught my attention.  This particular series was about this Kiwi monitoring bottle-nose dolphins off the west coast of Ireland but that’s not the bit that interested me.  On the show he was traveling back to his hotel when he stopped by a river to witness (more…)

This blog is the second part of “Why your staff are disengaged” and was written in response to a recent Gallup survey revealed that two-thirds of employees are disengaged.  It went on to say that “72% of New Zealanders are actively disengaged in the workforce, with 59% of employees behaving poorly with family and friends after a stressful day’s work.”  These statistics are quite unbelievable and very scary!  So what is it that is causing this lack of engagement and the general unhappiness of our New Zealand workforce? (more…)

A few weeks back I was dropping my girls off to school in the morning and I heard on the radio that a recent Gallup survey revealed that two-thirds of employees are disengaged.  It went on to say that “72% of New Zealanders are actively disengaged in the workforce, with 59% of employees behaving poorly with family and friends after a stressful day’s work.”  These statistics are quite unbelievable and very scary!  So what is it that is causing this lack of engagement and the general unhappiness of our New Zealand workforce? (more…)

How is it, that from an island nation of circa 4 million people, New Zealand produces such an outstanding rugby team year after year, without fail?  In a lot of cases other rugby teams are just as talented and just as prepared.  So what is it and how can you tap into it to perform at your very best on a consistent basis and produce outstanding results in your career, your relationships and your life?  I believe the answer lies in our psychology; the vast majority of the things we do in our life stem from our psychology (more…)

Let me ask you a question: Are you where you want to be in your life right now or have you settled for far less than you’re capable of?  Think back to the time when you dreamed of achieving great things with your time on this planet.  Have you achieved them?  Do you continue to stretch yourself or have you relaxed into a comfortable life?  After all, you have a car or two, a comfortable house, the kids are happy, a holiday every year…what more could you ask for? (more…)

I had one of those interesting conversations with my daughter after picking her up from school today.  She’s like every 5 year old these days, I guess…5 going on 15!  We were singing along to a CD in the car and we each had a different version of the end lyrics.  Sophie insisted that the words were, “Yes I will, will, will…” because they’re the words she learned in jazz as part of her dance routine.  I, on the other hand…and rightly so…insisted the words were, “With my bill, bill, bill…” If you haven’t guessed it yet, the song is ‘Miss Polly Had a Dolly’. (more…)

How can you attract more luck into your life and are some people just born lucky? This was the subject of research by Dr. Richard Wiseman and his colleagues over a couple of decades. Dr Wiseman concluded that the only sure way to become more lucky in life is to kiss a leprechaun. And considering St Patrick’s Day is just around the corner you might be in luck!  I’m kidding of course.

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