andrewnicol.net - blog

The smashing of the cream egg.

By a NZ guy, built in his flat...

The month that was...

Firstly Kevin Carroll author of the Red Runner Ball, did a shoutout about my very out of date block. You can read it here. http://kevincarrollkatalyst.com/index.php/blog/shoutout_thursday/

I was blown away, and humbled that Kevin, wrote about me. The net and social networking perplex me alot.

Some posts I wrote in the last month:

I Think I Do... @ lead2live.com

Mowing the lawns ... oh JOY! @ lead2live.com

sexy @ lead2live.com

Power companies are greedy!

There was some coverage earlier in the week about potential power shortages later this year. This from stuff:

National energy spokesman Gerry Brownlee said "things are very, very tight". "If we don't get rain in significant volume by the end of the month, going into the first week of May, we could be in considerable trouble." and "It was too early to think about a public savings campaign."

Firstly the RED line doesn't look that good. If that was sales in a business, it would be bad, wouldn't it?

Secondly, of course its too early to get the public to make savings. That would drive demand down, which would drive the price down.

It makes far better business sense to wait until there is a full on shortage, when spot prices are really high, then loss in revenue from savings, is more than offset by the increase in prices. Yeah its a hassle for their customers, but profits are stunning!

Conclusion: NZ still has some huge infrastructure issues! - Thanks Aunty Helen & Uncle Mike. Thankfully one of my family gets more out of the power companies than we pay.

Book Review: Compassionate Leadership

It was one of those books in which the title challenged my thinking more than the book itself. It was an OK read but the authors really tried to say there was more to servant leadership, that leaders needed to be compassionate. The problem is, they then use the term "Servant Leader" more often than compassionate leader, and their entire summary was what "Servant Leaders do..."

Overall it was a good summary of Servant Leadership, though not a griping read.

Uppermost in the mind of a compassionate leader is the constant quest to know and understand the will of God, and to seek His wisdom and guidance. ...

Effective leaders must be willing ti be in the state of constant learning. There is no relaxing or even plateauing.

Servant leaders are characterized by a thorough and ever expanding knowledge of God's Word. They use their biblical wisdom, and understand clearly the grace of God.

Pg 116

The challenge, if not just from the title, be a compassionate leader!

www.fishpond.co.nz - online books & dvds

You may have noticed the “Buy Now at Fishpond” button at the bottom of my book posts.

Well I must admit that I didn’t hold out much hope for a NZ based book affiliate programme, but I have actually earned commission off the 4 books I have linked to www.fishpond.co.nz.

I earn 10% on any purchases you make after clicking the click. So far I have earned the grand total of $4, but that is $4 more than I thought I would earn. Cynical I know.

I have also brought a number of books from Fishpond, and to date there has not been a book that I have looked up that I have not found. Historically I would import books direct from the US, but fishpond does it for me and gives me a GST receipt.

Very cool.

Oh. And they also do music and dvd's.

Check it out and don’t forget to click my link.

5 very brief book reviews...

Here are some books I have read lately. I have been in catch up mode as I once again found myself with 9 books I had started reading.

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Succeed - by Michael E. Gerber

Yeah, the narrative style does little for me, but the concept is a good one. He basically says most people start businesses because they are technically good at something (the book uses the example of making pies). Being technically good at making pies, doesn’t make you good at running a business.

My key lesson was the Turn Key Revolution which basically means you systemize everything and act like a franchise.  3 out of 5.

Boundaries: When to say Yes, When to Say No - by Henry Cloud
I actually thought I would enjoy this book far more than I did. I really enjoyed his writing style in “9 things you must do”. I found this book to be beneath me. I know that sounds arrogant, but I simply didn’t get much out of it. I believe in boundaries, but this book did little to expand the concept for me. 2 out of 5.

RULES OF THE RED RUBBER BALL - by Kevin Carroll
Read it on a plane flight from Hamilton to Christchurch. Easy read. I liked the fun layout. A great reminder to chase and live your dreams. 4 out of 5.

The Extraordinary Leader : Turning Good Managers into Great Leaders - by John H. Zenger
An interesting book that follows a similar vein to “Good to Great”, though not as compelling. The authors conduct a significant amount of research into what makes an extraordinary leader. It would appear that it comes down to those who work hard at developing one to two key strengths. Being good in every competence is less relevant than being stunning at one or two. 4 out of 5.

Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church - by Mark Driscoll
I powered through this awesome book. (it wasn’t one of my nine) Really enjoyed his writing style, candor, humour and passion. Recommend it for anyone wanting a different and freshing perspective on Post Modern Christianity. 5 out of 5.

The week that was…

A sad week this week. Went to the funeral of my uncle Terry. He was my Mum’s only living immediate family member and an awesome uncle. Craig and I spoke at the funeral.

As I reflected on his life I know that his life challenges me to be a great uncle. One that takes a genuine and unique interest in my nephews and nieces.

Some posts I wrote in the last week:

Made or Born @ lead2live.com

Expectations @lead2live.com

Australia T&L @viewpoint.net.nz

My mood generally is good, but overloaded. Need to work out what I can stop doing...  Problem is I have a huge week ahead.

Danger alright...

Now that I have my pilots licence for planes, I have started thinking about how inconvenient they are. A helicopter would be so much better. I could drop into the vacant land next to agóge HQ. It would be great.

Well on Friday a Robinson R44 dropped into our neighbours CKL. It encapsulated all of my dreams. The sign by the tail rotor, with agoge in the background, is a warning in more ways than one...

The Helicopter HLG is owned by Meridian Holdings Limited in Auckland.

Flight Sim comedy

This is classic. Have a watch.

Family Flying

Took the whole family flying for the first time Saturday. We flew from Hamilton to Tauranga, took Mun and Dad for a fly, then flew back.

My Son is under 4 so sat with a lap belt on his mums knee. This meant we had 5 people on board (POB) in a four 4 seater plane. Air Traffic Control in both Hamilton & Tauranga both doubled checked when I told them 5.

As always with flying and me at the moment. I learn heaps from each flight and this was no exception.

A great day though!!

Change to Strange - Daniel Cable

I listened to, then brought this book late last year. The basic aspect of the book is this: An organisation will not be great (as opposed to good or average) unless there is something different about it. Something out of the ordinary. It follows then that organisations are not going to be out of the ordinary, or extraordinary, or great, if its workforce is essentially the same as its competitors.

It talks a lot about creating Workforce Deliverables and Metrics. Some questions it poses to help with this are:

To make performance drivers move, how must our workforce be distinct from our competitors?

What characteristics describe our ideal workforce that our competitors would not or could not use to describe their workforce?

Where are the gears currently slipping?

What characteristics of our existing workforce must change in order for us to execute our strategy?

How can we measure key workforce deliverables rather than just talking about time?

How do we go from strange workforce concepts to strange workforce metrics?

A final quote to conclude.

Make it a practice to actually imagine your competition stealing your customers and bleeding your business dry until you are force to stop operating.

ISBN 978-0-13-157222-5 : Hardback : 174 pgs

Project Management – Gary R. Heerkens

This is a very easy book to read that gives you 24 concise lessons for becoming a successful Project Manager. It assumes the reader has some knowledge of project management and is relatively simplistic in its approach.

Nevertheless it is a worthwhile remind of the sort of things you should watch out for as a project manager, and applies equally to a business owner or other stakeholders.

A couple of good steps are “Transfer your lessons learnt” – If you do not structure your information so that others can actually apply the lessons you’ve learned, your organisation hasn’t really benefited.

And “Consider post project issues” – What happens after the project is often more important than the project.

Overall a simple book that I will use with those who fringe project management within agóge.

ISBN 978-0-07-148652-1 : Hardback : 99 pages

The Warrior – Francine Rivers

This is a fictional story based on the life of Caleb. Caleb is one of those names that you can glance over the in Old Testament amongst such huge names as Moses and Joshua.

Imagine being one of two men who thought they could enter the Promised Land. Then getting told to wait 40 years until you actually enter it because of the disobedience of the many.

It is a well written story and I think gives some great insights to how the people would have thought at the time.  I have often found it almost unbelievable that God rescued the people from Egypt and mere days later they want to return. This story handles some of those personal battles, similar to the battles we face today, really well.

This is the first of Francine’s books that I have read. I will definitively read more in the future.

Pookmail.com

This is quite handy. Either had to provide your email addy to a website to register software or download a document. If you are like me and are keen to avoid spam you will really reluctant to do this.

Pookmail.com is the answer.

Go to the website. Use an email address like billybob@pookmail.com and your email will be displayed (to all who enter this address) for 24 hrs.

Just enough time to click the confirmation link or whatever. After 24 hours the address is deleted.

Costs nothing. Give it ago.

Alpha aviation is put into liquidation

Hamilton based Alpha Aviation has been put into liquidation this week by it’s Australian Parent (Inventis). They produce the aircraft in which I did most of my flight training and sat my PPL exam.

It is disappointing as it leaves the aircraft that the Aero Club and CTC brought effectively unsupported.

Another blow to the Hamilton Airport and Government as well.

I would love to have a look at their books. They are reported to sell aircraft at around $250,000 (which is cheap) and are producing around 10 per year. 2,500,000 million is turnover is not much to support 70 staff and pay for the costs of production. It is has 20 aircraft, has orders for 16 with a further 14 options. The parent company announcement to the ASX is worth a read.

It proves the saying correct “The best way to make a small fortune in aviation … is to start with a huge one.”