andrewnicol.net

Candidate for US President

Barack 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.

THIS GENERATION

"This generation will be remembered for three things: the Internet, the war on terror, and how we let an entire continent go up in flames while we stood around with watering cans. Or not."

Bono

[Hat Tip - Ben]

Never read "Hello Laziness"

In France 1 in every 5 people are employed by the state. Employment and business law is so regulated that growth is minimal. There is little being done to encourage start-up businesses and when a change to labour laws was suggested 1,000,000 people marched (and rioted) against them.

It is against this backdrop that I review the book "Hello Laziness" by Corinne Maier. I brought the book because I thought it was the sort of book I should read before I gave it to anyone (something I will not be doing).

The author appears to be bitter, anti business and discourages employees from taking ownership and learning new things. An example is the first of the authors commandments:

"Salaried work is the new slavery. Remember that work is not a place for personal development. You work for your pay cheque at the end of the month, full stop."

I am glad I don't live in France (from a business point of view).

The irony is that the author would probably say, that as a business owner, I am exactly the sort of person you should be wary of.

Book Summary

Hello Laziness - Why hard work doesn't pay
Corinne Maier

Genres        Business, Being a lazy employee.
Pages         121
Readability   3 (1 = Easy, 5 = Hard)
Enjoyment    1 (1 = Never Read, 5 = Remarkable)

Dragon for sale!

Don writes about the lessons he has as he grew up without a father and does so in his normal matter of fact and humorous style. At times I felt that some of his observations and negatives that he put down to being fatherless, actually apply to most men and are not necessarily the result of not growing up with a father.

Nevertheless a good, easy and enjoyable read. A couple of chapters I found particularly good and the quote below is from the latter.

Chapter 8: Making Decisions - How to Stay Out of Prison
Chapter 13: Education - Jordan and Mindy's Dog

I don't think I am stupid anymore. These days, I just think of the mind as a muscle, and by working it, we get more enjoyment out of life. I had a teacher in high school named Mr. Sleepak. He was our music instructor, and he used to tell us if we were coasting , we were moving downhill. He said this to get us to practice our instruments, but I think it's true in all of life. What I mean is, if we aren't learning, we are forgetting, if we aren't getting smart, we are becoming dull.

The latest statistic is that the average American watches 1,456 hours of television a year [4 hrs a day] but only reads three books. So if it's true that readers are leaders, and the more you read the further you advance, then there isn't a lot of competition.

Book Summary

To Own a Dragon - Reflections on growing up without a father
Donald Miller (with John MacMurray)

Genres        Fathers, Spirituality, Humour
Pages         192
Readability  2 (1 = Easy, 5 = Hard)
Enjoyment    4 (1 = Never Read, 5 = Remarkable)

Saying things to wind people up.

"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!

What did you learn today?

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.

"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?

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)

Hamilton Airport is too taxing

I travelled to Christchurch the other day and now have to pay a $5 departure tax from Hamilton Airport for Domestic Travel. The tax^ is required to pay for the interest charges on the new terminal.

Here are my issues with it:

• The Hamilton airport is a regional airport and is the gateway to the region. The terminal needed upgrading because it was by far the most butt ugly terminal for the size of the region it services. In my view the shareholders (being Hamilton City Council 50% and the other regional councils) should have seen this coming, as the business case either always included this or was so far wrong somebody should go. The value of the airport company jumped $22 million in just one year (69%), slightly more than the $600k in interest payments.
• They are charging me a departure tax for a new terminal that won’t be finished for another 18 months. In the meantime it’s portable toilets outside.
• They have twice increased the car parking charges as well. It was $8 a day, then went to $10 a day and is now $20 a day. I am being taxed twice!
• I really really dislike queuing as it is. Now I have to queue twice once for my ticket and the other time to pay departure tax. No four times. I queue to check in, queue for departure tax, queue to handover more tax to get to the gate, queue to get on the plane.

The board and management team lack the ability to think in an ingenious way. Taxing the departing visitor is dumb. I thought the purpose of the airport increase visitors to the region.

A final note. It takes me 30 mins from home to the airport. To get to Christchurch direct is 1:50. If I drive to Auckland it will take me 1 hour and I get a 1:20 flight time, cheaper flights in bigger planes with more leg space, more frequency and better services and lounges. Hamilton Airport assumes people like me won’t do that.

They are wrong.

Ingenious Rating : 0

Ingenious Rating

I have decided to create an ingenious rating table that I can rate different businesses and ideas that I can see, against my meaning of Ingenious.

Ingenious means providing remarkable and inventive and edgy and customer focused and stunning service.

5 = Ingenious

3 = Very Good
2 = Nice Try
1 = What were you thinking?
0 = Dumb Ass

The table deliberately has no #4 to remind us that there is a huge gap between Ingenious and Very Good. I will post the ratings to different businesses in the comments below.

What if apple did a phone?

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

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.

Read my full post at viewpoint.net.nz

What does a Purple Cow have to do with Marketing?

Book Review: Purple Cow is about making sure that your business is offering remarkable services.

A key quote for me is:

"The opposite of 'Remarkable' is 'Very Good'

Ideas that are remarkable are much more likely to spread than ideas that aren't. Yet so few brave people make remarkable stuff. Why? I think it's because they think that the opposite of 'Remarkable' is 'bad' or 'mediocre' or 'poorly done'. Thus, if they make something very good, they confuse it with being virus worthy.

Continue to read the my full review in a post at viewpoint.net.nz

Also read a great summary of 10 points about being remarkable from Seth's Blog. (the author)

A quest for an ingenious business

If you buy a Lighter then you would expect it to have gas in it – right? Well when I purchased one from the Oasis Superette  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.

Congratulations

My friends Rob & Tracey Lark had their third child today. A third girl to really keep Rob busy when they become teenagers. Born at 8:53, 7lb 7oz. Everyone is well, no name yet.

Congrads to you both.

Sailing on a race track

It was a beautiful day in Papamoa this morning and as with most stunning days I longed to sail, but today that seemed like just to much like hard work.

So I decided to con my brother Craig into going Blokarting . The first thing you noticed when you were walking to the race track was the silence. The same silence that you experience when you cut the motor on a yacht and move to sail power. It is incredible.

With the briefing aside we were ready to race. Team Craig with co-pilot Kyla on-board, and Team Andrew with co-pilot Talia. I'm not sure who won because we passed them more often but they did more laps. Figure that out if you please.

Kyla is convinced that they won and Talia thought it was boring so kicked back for a rest.

Anyway, in my mind it was worth the $15 for 15 minutes, although another 5 knots of breeze would have made it a heap more fun. Craig was to heavy so kept coming to a almost complete stop.

8 out of 10, will be 10 out of 10 when they can guarantee a good breeze.

A funny oxymoron

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.

Family Holiday

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

OK, 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

"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

Cabin Pressure (2001)

I watched this movie last night about a plane that flys itself, and is hacked into by an old disgruntled employee.

Never ever ever watch this movie. Bad plot, long winded and bad acting. The most amusing thing is it was found in the horror section at the video shop.

You have been warned.

I ended the year a loser!

For those of you who know me even a little bit, you will know that I am not at all competitive. Well maybe just a little bit, ok I'm very competitive!

On New Years Eve we decided to head to the Natzkes for a BBQ and see the new year in with them and some of their friends. As the night progressed we started playing Sing Star which is always a heap of fun. Somehow (because most people were stone deaf at the beginning) I managed to have a final duel with Kris McDonald and I lost badly.

After humming my way through a song I bearly knew and being shown up as a sing star fraud (similar to Milli Vanilla in 1990) I decided to turn my hands to 500. I thought I must be able to win cards and while I won the occasional hand we lost both games. Great! what a interesting tribute to 2006.

In 500 the other night I only got the joker once, and the left or right jacks a couple of times. A night of being dealt bad hands.

Now here is the interesting thing. I play 500 like I do life (although I generally win more than I lose).

• I love to make call (even if I have nothing to play) because I like a challenge.
• If I have a really bad hand, I just want to bail.
• I can make generally turn some pretty bad hands into winners.
• I am continually reading people.

I talked to Rob about playing him at golf. May be then I could start this year a winner. :-)

DREAMING

"Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives."

William Dement - sleep researcher

Flying an Alpha 160A update

A brief update on flying in the clubs other Alpha (ZK-WJH) which I flew this morning. I did some glide approaches then went solo in the Alpha.

Observations
- The stall warning seems to function heaps better in this plane. I only heard it when I expected to.
- Only having two flap settings 10 & 35 Degrees is a pain on a glide approach. I duffed the first one because I put full flap down to early.

Still great aircraft to fly. Since I have done a solo I am back to normal PPL lessons.