How to come third in a mayoral election

14.09.2019/09.37

One mayoral candidate recently asked me for my advice. I won’t name who it is, since I want those who contact me to know I’ll keep their communications in confidence. Now, the first thing to do is to get a time machine and ask me the same question 18 months earlier. But I […]

Reflections about Lee Iacocca—unfortunately, not all of it is positive

03.07.2019/11.29

The car Lee Iacocca will be remembered for, the 1965 Ford Mustang on the right. Before I found out about Lee Iacocca’s passing, on the same day I Tweeted about one of the cars he was behind when he was president of Ford: the 1975 US Granada. Basically, Iacocca understood that Americans wanted style. That […]

The smart ones always seem to be the minority

24.05.2019/09.22

Pixabay Each year, I mentor one student from my Alma Mater. I won’t reveal their identity or what we discuss, as these are privileged, but one thing that became apparent today is how each generation might think that young people are on to it. That they won’t fall for the same bullshit that we did […]

CSR is already woven into Māori leadership

23.04.2019/10.01

I was fascinated to read a New Zealand Herald story on the Māori asset base, though it wasn’t the financial part that hit me. What was more significant were the principles behind Māori businesses. About 15 years ago, when chatting to a woman representing a Māori winery, I said that she had an amazing […]

Bypassing the media, Carlos Ghosn tells it as it is

10.04.2019/09.48

I haven’t blogged much about Carlos Ghosn, though I’ve Tweeted aplenty since his arrest last November. Earlier this week, his lawyers released a video of Ghosn stating his position, and it echoes much of what I had Tweeted. He couldn’t make a personal appearance at a press conference himself, thanks to some conveniently timed (for […]

Autocade turns 11 as the web turns 30

12.03.2019/13.12

The latest model to appear on Autocade today: the Mazda CX-30. It’s March, which means Autocade has had another birthday. Eleven years ago, I started a car encyclopædia using Mediawiki software, and it’s since grown to 3,600 model entries. The story has been told elsewhere on this blog. What I hadn’t realized till today was […]

Life inside Google—an ex-Googler airs the dirty laundry

19.10.2018/09.43

In amongst all the political fallout of the National Party this week—what I’m dubbing (and hashtagging) ‘caught in the Rossfire’—was a series (well, over 100) Tweets from Morgan Knutson, a designer who once worked for Google. Unlike most Googlers, especially the cult-like ones who refuse to help when you point out a fault with Google, […]

Musk apologies to Unsworth, only because teacher told him to

18.07.2018/10.36

Via Adeline Chua: I see Elon Musk has apologized to Vernon Unsworth. But it smacks of the apology a child would give after being compelled by his teacher to do so. Translation: ‘I wouldn’t have said anything if the Vern didn’t push me. It’s all Vern’s fault.’ Or, ‘Vern made me do it.’ […]

We’ve been here before: foreign-owned media run another piece supporting an asset sale

04.05.2018/02.20

Clilly4/Creative Commons I see there’s an opinion piece in Stuff from the Chamber of Commerce saying the Wellington City Council should sell its stake in Wellington Airport, because it doesn’t bring in that much (NZ$12 million per annum), and because Auckland’s selling theirs. It’s not too dissimilar to calls for the Council to sell […]

Is the death of expertise tied to the Anglosphere?

20.03.2018/20.56

Foreign and Commonwealth Office Boris Johnson: usually a talented delivery, but with conflicting substance. I spotted The Death of Expertise at Unity Books, but I wonder if the subject is as simple as the review of the book suggests. There’s a lot out there about anti-intellectualism, and we know it’s not an exclusively […]