Blog | Toddy Talks

10 Lessons learned looking forward

April 10, 2020

What a year last month was!

With the world now hunkered down to battle a new bio security threat there are some interesting observations to be made and lessons to be learned. How have you coped with the changes you have had to make? What are you learning during a period in lockdown? Wha...

20 Things for 2020 with 20 days to go

December 9, 2019

20 Things for 2020

As we conclude the second decade of the 21st century I suspect there will be plenty of posts, or puns, about having 2020 vision for next year. Having had that thought I then thought some more. What might be 20 things to think about and/or do for 2020? 1) Ha...

Experiences or Things?

October 17, 2019

What is more important in life - Experiences or Things? Many years ago a mentor of mine gave me some advice: “Go through life accumulating experiences, not things”. At the time I think it was largely, but obviously not entirely, lost on me. We were youn...

The Significance of Eight

July 11, 2019

The 8 Step Formula - Zig Ziglar

There are a lot of “Top 10 ways to become....” or “Three simple steps to.....” type claims made aren’t there? Do you sometimes wonder which one of them is right? Are they all right to a greater or lesser extent? Or where did the data came from that allo...

Do you appreciate how good you are?

March 7, 2019

In recent weeks I have been drawn to think about the way people perceive themselves.Ask someone how they are. Typical response - “not too bad”. Not many people will respond “ good thanks” or “excellent”.In a world where social media, phones and ubiquitous connect...

Robots or People Skills?

October 3, 2018

Recently I was asked to speak at a Chartered Accountants Conference on this: "Opportunities in New Zealand in the future". Big topic! On the face of it, the obvious answer to the question was to head down the technology path - in one form or another. In rea...

ASB Rural Awards

September 4, 2018

Check out some of the great shots from the ASB Rural Awards I recently MC'd at the Wairakei resort, Taupo. The evening combined Annual Awards with celebrating 25 Years for the ASB Rural business. ...

Young Grower of the Year 2018

August 31, 2018

I had the pleasure of being MC at The Young Grower of the Year 2018 National Awards held recently in Napier. What an excellent event it was. Check out some of the winners pics below....

What's happening to "freedom of speech"?

June 12, 2018

“Is “being offended” a choice?’ The subject line of this post is one I’ve pondered for some time. Since leaving the corporate world 7 years ago this month one of the main differences I have noticed, and to some extent enjoyed, is that I can have an opinion pu...

The washing machine broke down. How's yours?

January 24, 2018

It’s a new calendar year and, as at the time of writing this, “all of a sudden” 7 percent of it has gone. We took some time out on the proverbial “charger” during January, as many people do, which was excellent. If you’ve done something similar I’m sure y...