Dear John… Oh how I hate to write

Over the last few weeks I have seriously become engaged with the plight of this country. I mean, there is a lot to get concerned about with forecast debt of 14 billion dollars for this fiscal year (let’s hope that it is not held by the EEC)

In light of this I have a few suggestions for you. Assuming that I was PM for a day what conversations would I like the country to be having? Here goes…

Cap the DPB?

Firstly: in reference to Paula Bennett’s latest initiative on contraception choices for those on a benefit…

Maybe it would be better to look to cap the D.P.B. for all new dependents at support for just two children. Just as the Government have limited the student numbers for the universities for fiscal reasons we need to recognize the financial burden unsupported women and their families bring to our economy. Yes, there would be exceptions as there would be in all of the conversations that I would like people to be having.

I applaud Paula Bennett for her contraceptive initiative. Surely there is no benefit nor logic in bringing more children into an environment that is suffering financially and it is ridiculous to class it as eugenics. Beneficiaries certainly, as a recent article in the Herald on Sunday suggested, are not likely to become tax paying citizens going forward given their environment; hence a reliant platform to look after an increasingly aging population.

The contraception, Paula suggests, would definitely be a welcome hand-up for families struggling financially that were not entitled to a handout. Realty check: Kids cost money! And the state cannot afford to pay and it can never be healthy to have children born into an environment of entitlement and handout.

Raise the age for the unemployment benefit?

Next I would raise the age of eligibility for the unemployment benefit to 20 years of age. This may in turn encourage more kids to actively look for work or perhaps consider the less palatable jobs that at present they turn their noses up at. I reflect on those early roles that I had in the workforce. One included the addition of four cherries (and no more) to the large cans of fruit salad at the Wattie's cannery in Hastings it becomes a family’s duty rather than the Governments to look after them. I would also advocate that as a requirement of benefit collection, they are required to do some form of work. This may be a council initiative (parks and gardens) or another Government organization in need of further manpower. Perhaps our public rest homes could be worthy beneficiaries.

National Super: a right or an entitlement?

The debate surrounding the review of the age of eligibility to collect National Super needs to continue. People are living longer and healthier lives and we need to encourage and acknowledge this. My mum still works a full day at 73 years old (because she wants to… not because she has to). To have a purpose and a role has to be better than contemplating the content of each and every day!

The older generation are incredibly valuable in the work force. National Super entitlement ages are now not relevant and possibly need to be reviewed every ten years.

I would suggest that there should also be no entitlement to National Super and it perhaps should be means tested. When I consider that my independently wealthy father receives this payment (and I am sure Ron Brierley does as well) as a right rather than a need, it seems absurd. Sure they have paid into the tax system all their lives but benefits should be for those in need.

User pays insurance?

ACC needs to be privatized again… it just works better for the state and the employer as it simply becomes more about user pays.

There needs to be an insurance levied against those that embark on extreme pursuits or high injury sports. These need to be user pays so the search and rescue that is so often associated with these are not a cost on the taxpayer. Just as we all take out insurance to travel overseas, we need to ensure insurance is mandatory for these types of pursuits.

A wage increase will mean better care for the aged?

The current debate around increasing the minimum wage for public age care workers is challenging. To simply effect a blanket increase will not increase standard of care in our rest homes. Perhaps we look at partial privatization so that the proper process of review and reward are put in place? Increasing the standard of care is about strong leadership, policies and procedures and recognition of excellence just as within the private sector pay equates to outputs, not entitlement.

Have our prisons simply become crime universities?

Let’s start listening to the advocates around reducing prison sentences or looking at other solutions of punishment. We all know that to lock up petty criminals in a crime university only has one outcome. It’s time to think differently. The stats show that only 7% of the people in our prisons are the throw-away-the-key variety. So how much of that $500 a day bill can be reduced?

Migrants the answer to our population growth?

Let’s embrace the migrant population in New Zealand. With the way we are reported on a global stage each day via the media it’s surprising anyone wants to come here. Migrants in business add to our tax take and draw very little in the way of benefits. Sure New Zealanders leave the country but others enter and add to the fabric of who we are. The public health system would have some serious recruitment problems without migrants.

We have created a society of entitlement which is not healthy and even more so, we cannot afford it. Surely increasing the self-worth of every New Zealander has to be a priority as well as a return to the family unit of care and encouraging education at all levels which in turn gives people choice… these have to be a focus to create a pathway to a very needed surplus.

Food for thought…

I am, as always keen to hear your views on the direction of New Zealand and how it can position itself to balance the books and become a progressive and innovative society, not reactionary and entrenched.
Please drop me your thoughts about these points of any others.  

Regards,
Annah

Please... Stop burning the toast!

My man gets up early every Sunday and, much to my amazement, walks the dogs and heads to the weekly market. He has an obsession with small vege plants that never really yield too much and I am sure they are often planted in the wrong season but he loves admiring the fruits of his labour planted in small rows struggling against the now wintery conditions... ahhhhhh. But from small acorns mighty oaks grow… just not often in his case.
He doesn’t just stop at buying seedlings, oh no but I would be so happy if he did. No, he always buys a fresh loaf of sourdough; a favourite of his. Yep, he loves the fresh doughy taste of a thick slice smothered in butter (think he may have switched to a cardio preventing spread lately) and local honey.
Not so bad really but when Monday comes and the market bread has lost its fresh appeal and needs to be enjoyed as toast, this is where the problem starts. He thickly slices the two mandatory pieces and pushes them into the toaster. He's forgotten about the Vogel setting that the toaster remains on most of the time and, you guessed it, his toast burns. The smell drifts upstairs to my office and I erupt. Innocent enough, I can hear you thinking but no, I have been immersed in his burning toast smells for too long (and there are not a lot of smells that I dislike more). I have threatened, I have pleaded but to no avail, at 6am every Monday the toast burns and the house begins its week permeated with the disgusting smell. And this is where my point comes in. So last Monday when he burned the toast, no more threats, I simply removed the toaster, put it in the back of my car and took it to our Auckland house. Problem solved. And is he still having toast? Yep, but he's grilling it in the oven and guess what… he has to watch it when prepared this way and so far no mishaps or horrible smells.

Without any immediate accountability or consequence nothing changes. We simply go on doing as we always have, rightly or wrongly and in my man’s case the toast didn't affect him. He doesn't mind the smell and he simply scrapes the burnt bits off to eat it. But to me it was a huge problem, so I had to solve it!
I can think of so many similar scenarios in our immediate environment where we have failed to take action or the consequence is so insignificant that the behaviour continues.
Do any of us really think that the policy muted by Paula Bennett to offer voluntary reversible sterilization to women on a benefit will make a difference? I’m not so sure (purely because it is voluntary so how many women will elect to take this option?)
I do, however, applaud her as there is nothing so true as this country cannot continue to handout money that it simply doesn't have. So surely if you are already in a position that you have to be supported by the State it seems absurd that you can just keep adding to the financial problem by having more children that will also need support.
Analysts are forecasting our country's deficit to be at $14 billion for the fiscal year.
I know for one, that no commercial organization can continue to trade when they are that insolvent… it is not even legal.
Fact... we have a problem. Surely we can’t be that far from the Greeks and it is time we took our heads out of the sand and did something about it… each and every one of us!
We cannot afford the level of social welfare that is being paid out. We therefore must make a change.
Maybe we should consider capping the domestic purposes benefit going forward just as we have the universities and the number of students they can take. So for all new applications to the benefit there is a two child cap… sure you can have more children, there is just no entitlement to state support... food for thought?

I was watching a TV One reality show last week that was showcasing the work of the Perth police force. A section of the program shown was of a woman arriving to court about to face charges of driving while disqualified.
Not only did she drive to the court where she was sentenced to a further period of disqualification, she then hopped into her car and promptly drove off. She was of course stopped by the police, returned to court and placed before the magistrate that same day, where she was refined a sum total $900 and six months disqualification… hardly a deterrent... incredible! (And will that woman drive during the next six months? Hell yes!)
Let’s take a leaf from the Chinese rule book where they have zero tolerance to drink driving. If you drink then drive and get caught, you will get locked up (no negotiation) in a Chinese prison for three months. I bet that stops them… it certainly would stop me.
And following on with the same TV program, the police pick up a guy that is associated with a local crime ring, driving a car loaded with stolen stuff and weapons. He goes to court and is fined the same amount that I got for speeding last week. It simply gets more bizarre. Why is no one prepared to make the hard calls? Where the hell is this all heading?

Paula's attempt to provide solutions for what is one of this country's biggest problems has started an up roar. This is not unexpected in that we have become such a nanny-state that even logical and fair proposals to solve a very real problem are reacted to in the same way as if total sterilization was suggested. I’m sure many New Zealanders, if asked, would have gone further in proposing a suggested solution to this problem that would have been well in excess of this very mild and practical solution pitched by Paula!!
In the words of one of my favourite movies… Something’s gotta give!!!!

Stop making excuses. Stand up, own up and get on with it!

Excuses. My new catch phrase is ‘stop making excuses. In fact… no more excuses! Stand up, own up and get on with it... and have I heard some great ones but I will get to those later…
The other day I saw an excellent re-vamp of the No Smoking sign… the one that you see in public domains, but this time the red circle with the line through it had the word ‘Excuses’ within the parameters.

Perfect I thought. This needs to be up loud and proud in so many work places; including mine.
As we go through life whether we are at work or play it is so easy to blame others for what we should have got to or should have had some involvement in, rather than simply accept that the fault belongs to us!

In a leadership role such as mine, every stuff up or omission that happens belongs to me in some way, so when a stuff-up happens, I look at what I could have done better to see that it never happens again.
It is said that people need to hear the message three times before it really sinks in. A bit obsessive? No, it’s not! Your team will all have such different levels of absorption and I believe that three times is often not enough. So in many instances I have moved to five. I definitely know that with some team members I have to request information at least five times before I get a regular point of action so how does one change that???

The first thing is to write it down and when the initial deadline is missed address it and request it. When the second one is missed, request completion in an immediate time frame and when the next deadline is missed assess whether maybe this person is simply not capable of the task, is not prioritizing well and maybe needs help with the systemization of their role. Yep I have a few of these people so look at what the problem is and once you have it sorted be aware that you may have to follow up again!
So many of us seek autonomy in the workplace (“let me do this, I can manage it”) but refuse to take the accountability that goes with it.

If you are in charge of an area of a business then sure, you get to make the decisions and bask in the success, but you also need to accept the failings and know that business is about relative costs and expected outcomes.

I find that so many of my operational roles, whilst capable of securing products and services and managing a team, pay little mind to the costs and timelines of doing so. I for one, always have my eye on the costs but more so on sales. Every day I get up and look at how I can generate more income for the business, rather than doing things as I have always done. I look at how I can do things differently. So the one thing I dislike most from the mouth of a team a member when addressing an issue is... but this is what we have always done…. Arghhhhhhh!!! This comment is worse than the ASSUME one (‘oh but I just assumed’). I hate them both!

So the “but this is what we have always done” is one of the worst copouts and will never, in my book, excuse poor performance. Capable team members should be change agents. We should always be reviewing what we did in the past in respect of how we can do better going forward.
Great team leaders review systems and process continually to see we are getting the best outcomes. They never simply run with what we have done previously.

I question everything… much to the ongoing frustration of my team. I never accept anything on face value and believe me, I have uncovered some huge errors and anomalies simply by asking a few questions!
Sure it is a lot easier to go with the flow and most people will so be aware of this passiveness as you are handed your daily dose of information as a leader!
Why am I still addressing issues with heads of departments that, in their minds are the fault of their teams? Why do we all still come at challenges from the back foot not the front? Stop telling me why I can’t do things. I am so not interested. And stop giving me excuses! It’s about listening to what is being said and getting on with solving the problem at hand!
And finally there are the myriad of excuses that I have had around absenteeism or lateness…
But the best had to be on an employee’s first day of work she arrived an hour late in the company car. “Sorry,” she said, “I burnt myself on the hair drier and managed to get the car stuck in a foot of mud overnight so had to be towed out”. And then there was the most resourceful management of a personal challenge that I have seen yet. One of or store managers had requested time off to get her hair coloured, given she'd only been with us for a few days we suggested she look at one of her days off as a more suitable time to attend her appointment. I suppose when re-growth takes over, a woman's gotta do, what a woman’s gotta do. What a surprise it was to get a few calls from potential customers concerned that our manager was serving them with foils in her hair! Yep, she'd managed to get the job done in store, in the back sink no less and when approached, she obviously went in to denial but did add that she had managed to sell a wrap dress to the hairdresser. Yep according to her she'd managed to secure an appointment before work. I’m not so sure. Where there’s smoke there’s fire…

So just as I am contemplating the ‘no excuses’ sign in a prominent place in our workspace perhaps it is something for you to consider as well. It works for many environments, family and teams.
Finally… Happy Mother’s Day. I am off to enjoy the balance of the day with my Mum and sister. I wonder if my alcohol dazed kids are out of bed yet after all, they are in Dunedin and it is graduation!

The good the bad and the ugly of being a MUM

Six more sleeps and it’s the big day again. The one that recognises the role that all of us Mums claim to be our best ever. Easy? No. But rewarding… most of the time. It’s the only role that we women have no qualifications for, yet play out daily to the best of our ability.
There’s no possibility of resignation and we simply learn as we go. Best practice and rule books? No. It’s all about gut instinct and absolute love.
My children are older now… 23 and 21years to be exact but they were very small when I began this company of mine 20 years ago. So how did I cope? What lessons did I learn? And where are the takeaways?

When Edward was born in January 1991 I was still working in someone else's company and, foolishly I chose not to take any time off work. I think I was back the following week and, incredibly, travelling internationally after a month. So obviously breast feeding went out the window. This was my one regret but for my supposed dedication there would have been so much wonderful bonding that I could have done with my son, should I have made a different decision.
So learn from this and regardless of how entrenched you are in your work , take time out to enjoy what will be one of the most connective times in your life. I couldn't believe that I could love someone so much. Yes girls… loving a man and loving a baby are two very different feelings.
Thankfully I did decide to take eight months off when I had Sam two years earlier. And whilst initially I didn't think that I would find enough to do, the days passed quickly in a wonderful haze as I just loved being a Mum!
In 1992 when I began my company, Edward was one year old. Given the premises were on our farm it was relatively easy to manage the Mum role as well as run this operation of mine. It was simply about strong time management.
There is plenty of work time that exists outside the 8 to 5 work day that will not impact on a kids routine. Yes I did have help in the house and with the kids but why not? For me it was about a quality of time with them; not a quantity.
I can remember very few moments when I should have been there and wasn't. In fact, quite the opposite. I believe that by developing my own interests I became a better Mum. I was able to add a lot more to their life; especially from the point of schooling and sport choices. Yep, I spent many an afternoon at the poolside watching the kids train, or at Sam's ballet class but I suppose the difference between me and the other Mums was that I always had a pile of work on hand. And why not? Otherwise it simply became dead time that I, in turn, was able to make so productive given that I had very little in the way of distractions. Yep, I took work everywhere… and I still do this today! The hairdresser especially makes for a good 30 minutes of productive time especially while a colour is processing!

My own development at the helm of this company of mine has enabled me to create a stronger environment to bring up my children as I become less emotive and simply deal with the challenges at hand with the development of my leadership skills. These skills have also crossed over into my parenting role. For me, it was always about instilling strong values into the kids, creating a strong role model for them and providing them with the tools to deal with life's challenges… given that you will never be able to ascertain just what life is going to throw at you.

In 2002 Sam and Edward had to deal with the death of their step-mum and friend, Kim. She was killed in a car accident leaving behind a two-year-old daughter. No one and nothing can prepare you for this and it truly was and still is one of the hardest moments I have ever had to deal with /support my children through. Even typing this, I still feel incredibly emotional as it was a huge time for all of us.
Something like this never goes away but it does become part of your life fabric and, inadvertently provides you with another coping mechanism should you ever need to revisit this space, God forbid!

There have been so many highlights; so many moments that I have looked on with pride and huge amounts of love…
Sam's graduation: Yep, you could recognize her as she had the short white lace dress, high purple shoes, stockings that looked like suspenders and freshly dyed orange hair! It was a Bcom, not a fashion degree she was graduating with.
Her 21st birthday in Dunedin: During the speeches I discovered that she had won a wet tee shirt competition years earlier in Sydney!
Edward’s Gap year in America and the late night call when 11 of them had been kicked out of the Maine Camp: try sorting that when your son and several of his friends are facing a visa cancelation.
The call from Sam on Sept 4th, the day of the Christchurch earth quake: “Mum I don't want you to worry but I have just had a call from Edward’s friend that he was skiing with… Edward has had an accident. They are about to helicopter him off the mountain. Do not WORRY!!! How the hell do you not do that!
The laughter, the tears, the good times and the bad. It has simply been a role I have loved every damn day. It changes each year as they get older and I have embraced each and every stage. I had one objective and that was to create a balanced and empowering environment… to enable them to live a value driven life and make a difference to others as they went.
I have always wanted them to strive to be the best they can, to live their lives to the fullest and embrace risk… try stuff, taste stuff… never be afraid of failing. I have no need for them to be me, to follow in my footsteps… this is their life, their time, they must make their own decisions but I will always be right there beside them guiding and helping as they need.

Trust that you too can have both as a woman. You do not and will never have to choose. There is no guilt to be attached, to having your own vision and goals, no matter how small your children are. Never become an extension of your kids. They won't thank you for that; in fact, no one will. Live your life and accommodate them. It can only add to the life skills that you will give them and you will certainly be a lot more interesting to those around you.
It is so important that you create your own life balance first. Bringing up a family is very similar to leading a team. I am often walking a team member through a challenge to change a behavior in the same way that I would of a child of mine.
As we strive to increase diversity in the work place, especially in the leading roles that have been traditionally held by men, there has never been a better time for women to know and trust that we can have it all.
I love being a Mum. I will always be a Mum. And my two children, Sam and Edward will always be my greatest achievements!
Happy Mothers Day to all of you!

A few words on being a mum from Ann Sherry, Jenny Shipley and Phoenix Renata...

"Being a mother has been my toughest challenge and my most rewarding. You always imagine you could do your mother job better, spend more time, bake better cakes, be more tolerant of dress codes and girlfriends. At the end of the day however, having kids who are confident and caring is one of life's great achievements."
Ann Sherry

When my son Ben was asked on national TV what he thought of my being Prime Minister, he looked at the camera with some disdain and said “She's just my mum.” It was one of the great compliments of my life.

In many respects my children are my own heartbeat as I walk the high and low points of their lives with them. I am immensely proud of them both and how they now manage as fine young New Zealanders. And now I have the glorious pleasure of sharing a next generation experience with them both as our son, Ben and his wife, Chelsea have produced our first

grandchild,Otis and our daughter, Anna and her husband, Andrew are lookingn forward to becoming parents later in the year.

That sense of investment, adoration, joy, anxiety and anticipation is everything about being a mother. Of all the roles I've held in my lifetime there is none that has bought me more joy and satisfaction, rewarded me more greatly and inspired me to continue to try to shape a future from which they will benefit as a generation.

Jenny Shipley

Being a mum is hard work! Its a job that is never done, always educational and I wouldn't change it for the world.  It’s not until you have a baby yourself that you realise the lifelong committment and sacrifces it takes to be a mum. You understand what unconditional love means and finally understand what being a woman is all about. For me, Mother’s Day is not only a day to spend quality time with my daughter but to celebrate and give thanks to my mother, and grandmothers for all of the hard work, sacrifices and love they have shown to me.

Phoenix Renata