As you may have noticed yesterday’s post was my first post in a little over a month…curiously about the same amount of time I’ve been on Twitter.
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I’m not in the habit of forwarding on chain emails – however this one that I received today I thought was very good. Enjoy…
A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, ‘How heavy is this glass of water? ‘
Answers called out ranged from 8oz. To 20oz.
The lecturer replied, ‘The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. ‘If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an ambulance.’
‘In each case, it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes. ‘
He continued, ‘And that’s the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won’t be able to carry on. ‘
‘As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we’re refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. ‘
‘So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work/life down. Don’t carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow.’
Every single time I visit Wellington I come away impressed, and this weekend was no different. It’s hard to put my finger on exactly what it is, but here goes…
- The people are friendlier. They really are and this is huge to me.
- The atmosphere is more laid back. People care less about what they wear etc and appear more free to express themselves.
- You can walk everywhere. The tight layout of the city creates a pedestrian culture that encourages people out of their cars and forces people to engage with each other.
- Important decisions are made here. Seeing the Beehive and MPs walking around is just hot.
- Internet people live here. Web people living in Wellington have made a real effort to support each other. Trade Me, Xero, Plan HQ, StarNow, Ponoko etc are all based in Wellington and seem to know each other. In Auckland we get Ferrit (yay!)
I’m sure all of this has been said a thousand times before but it’s really struck me how true it is. Wellington has a buzz about it that, colleagues, friends and family aside, makes it feel like a better place to live than Auckland.
Born in the wrong city!
If you haven’t heard about James Stewart, the young entrepreneur from Christchurch who’s transforming his left leg into a canvas to raise the profile of New Zealand art and artists, I urge you to take a minute now to check him out…
I first read about James on Stuff and since then he’s received a lot of media attention both within New Zealand and as far away as the UK. So when James wrote to me earlier this week and asked if it would be OK if he auctioned off part of his leg on Zillion, I was only too happy to help. People with this level of commitment to their dreams don’t come along every day.
James has set himself a hugely ambitious goal that will require equally huge levels of commitment from generous New Zealanders who want to help James showcase New Zealand art to the world.
I wish him all the best and hope he succeeds.
It’s said that company culture starts at the top and trickles down to every employee. Look at Apple, the polish, the design and attention to detail baked into their products has Steve Jobs written all over it. If Steve Balmer ran the company, it just wouldn’t be the same.
But relax, I’m not here to talk about Apple. Last week I was reminded of a great little business a little closer to home where you can witness the exact same thing…
Wildpoppies is a boutique flouriest in central Auckland with a strong online component to their business. I’ve used Wildpoppies for years and have always been impressed by their attention to detail and the genuine care they show customers. For example, whenever I’ve ordered flowers online it’s been followed up with a hand written email shortly afterwards…
“Thanks for your order Dylan, we’ll make sure your flowers are extra special for xxx”.
Brilliant. Given that I only send flowers for a birthday or a bereavement etc it’s really comforting to know that my order is being dealt with by a real person and that they understand the significance of the gift I’m giving.
But back to the point of this post. Last week I actually popped into the Wildpoppies retail store (that doubles as a distribution centre for their online operation) and witnessed firsthand where this attention and care comes from. At the back of the store is an assembly area where the florists are busy putting bunches of flowers together for online orders. Perched above on the mezzanine were some computers, one of which was occupied by Kerry, the owner. While I was paying for my order, one of the girls loudly asked for some help …
“I’m struggling to find the best way to arrange these flowers, can somebody please help me?”
At this point Kerry jumped from her chair, ran down to the ground floor and started to get her hands dirty…
“Arrange them like this dear…I’ll show you…it will look really, really beautiful.”
And there you have it. A business owner who leads from the top and whose passion for beautiful arrangements and making sure customers are happy has trickled its way down through her entire operation…right down to the order confirmation emails.
Impressive stuff, and a nice reminder that you don’t have to be big as big as Apple to have impressive and distinctive company values.
Tonight when I fill up my car, the pumps are on prepay because it’s after dark. Knowing that my 50 litre tank is near empty, I ask the attendant for $100 worth of fuel.
“I’m sorry Sir, the maximum you can pay on prepay is $99.”
Something tells me we’ll see that limit raised soon. Ouch.
Vodafone sent another spam email this afternoon announcing that three Vodafone stores nationwide will begin selling the iPhone 3G on the stroke of midnight this Friday.
Apparently full pricing details will be revealed in a follow up email tomorrow, so one can only presume that today’s email was to ensure the Apple faithful spend an extra night queuing outside their local store in the cold…meanies!
A week or two back I entered my email address into the Vodafone web site and gave them permission to email me updates on the NZ release of the new iPhone 3G.
Today I received an update. Here it is…(drum roll please)
The new iPhone 3G – it’s all happening.
Hi,
Here at Vodafone, we’re eagerly counting down the days until the launch of the new iPhone 3G – and we bet you are too!
So, what’s next?
We will be rolling out our exciting iPhone 3G plans very soon. So make sure to keep an eye on your inbox to stay ahead of the game.
What’s really exciting is NZ will be one of the first countries in the world with the iPhone 3G!
Stocks will be limited so you’ll need to be quick.
Regards,
Kursten Shalfoon
General Manager Products
So what did we learn? Well nothing. I think Matt sums it up nicely…
Rusty says:
“Hi,
We can’t tell you anything still, but thought we’d email you anyways.
Bye!”
Come on Vodafone, release some actual information already!
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