Career
YOU Own Your Career. You, And No-One Else.
Many people are advised that they should look for a company that ‘provides a career’. Often I hear candidates say they want to leave a job because their current employer is not ‘looking after my career’. Sure, it’s important to work for a company where you can...
Travel A Lot For Work? Here’s How To Make It A Pleasure (Not A Chore)
As Co-Founder and CEO of a tech start-up with offices in Auckland, San Francisco, Toronto, Hong Kong & the Philippines, I travel a LOT. I’ve discovered a few strategies that mean the difference between a fantastic, successful overseas work trip and a frustrating, exhausting one. Here’s what works for...
10 Everyday Phrases That Basically Mean “Get *****d”
We use them, and hear them, all the time. Politely worded little sentences that in fact contain a very clear message. And that message is often highly aggressive, or at best dismissive and derisory. Often, the words are themselves pedantically polite, but the tone and the intent...
Stop Indulging In This Career-Damaging Luxury
David Gonski is a fixture in the Top 10 Most Influential People in Australia annual rankings. He’s on multiple boards, is much sought after as an advisor and is generally considered a very wise man. So when he laughed out loud at something I’d said, and...
Must-Have Tech Tools That Will Change Your Life
I’m Co-Founder and CEO of Booktrack, a tech start up that adds movie-style soundtracks to eBooks (think music and ambient audio matching what you read). We started here in Auckland, but we now also have offices in San Francisco, Toronto, Hong Kong and the Philippines. Working with teams...
Somebody Resigned? Don’t Be A Fool. Stay Cool.
A while ago I wrote what proved to be a popular blog about how to resign with grace. But what about the manager who gets a resignation? How should they behave? Sad to say, the commercial world is rife with mind-blowing tales of how badly bosses react when an employee...
To Be Better At Business And Life, Just Shut The **** Up
My colleague often gives me four very powerful words of advice. I know they’re pure gold. Yet I struggle to follow them. If you want to succeed in whatever you do, then don’t be like me. Embrace these four magical words: SHUT THE **** UP It’s as simple...
Here’s Your Week-By-Week Guide To Nailing The First 90 Days On The Job
You’ve got the job! After the excruciating effort of being on top form for hours of interviews, phone calls and coffees, you can finally relax. They like you. Job done! Well, not quite. Sure, they like you – or they wouldn’t have hired you. But once a new...