Posts by Rob Stowell
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Finished GOTD this morning, and just loved it. Rang a lot of my bells :) Great plot and characters, love interest, neat twists.
I found the mythology worked perfectly for me, and the ideas about stories and the world resonant and lucid. Gosh. She’s one to look out for, eh? Very pleased to hear there’s more coming.
17-year-old loved it too. Thanks!
ps- bought before xmas as a present from the university bookshop. Couldn't find it anywhere else. Whitcoulls in Riccarton Mall didn't have a copy- but the woman there did say: oh, we should should have that- she was 'sposed to come for a reading- she used to work here! -
I’d love to see the CBD rebuilt full of life and future facing. First thoughts are:
A city that feels light, airy, and strong. The first Europeans here wanted the solidity of stone that harked back to a European past, made them feel secure about their future here. It doesn’t seem secure any more, and we should face the future. A city designed to be post-oil is an intriguing notion.
And a city centre that’s not a collection of great square towers. Maybe a six-storey limit, with a few exceptions. There’s no great need to build massive towers.
I’d like to add: a city built for beauty. But we’d argue forever and roll fighting into the Avon, to drown or be poisoned :) -
Up Front: Ups and Downs. And Side-to-Sides., in reply to Jackie Clark,
Thanks Jackie- we are all ok, together, and in fact having a few kids for a sleepover tomorrow. It seems like an act of normality. The kids have taken things fairly calmly, but we’re already thinking we need to organise some activities. Being idle is ok for a while, but doing things helps too.
(And just started reading Guardians of the Dead. It's good! Feels so local, which also seems right just now.) -
Great to hear you are all ok and together. And the Hay-Haywoods.
It’s gonna be a while for *ok* to actually mean fine and happy- but we’ll get there :) -
Hard News: Again: Is everyone okay?, in reply to Gareth Ward,
The CTV building was big. Only the first two stories were CTV. Big modern building, and its collapse is just shocking. I started TV work at CTV when it opened in 1991 (in the TVNZ building- also rather damaged.)
Hard to take in the complete destruction, and the horrible fires that followed. Not many of the original staff still there, but it really was a community station, and it hits Canterbury hard :( -
University seems to have survived ok. Very shaken up this time though- considerably more damage- and all just at the wrong time.
Chch looks so sad. And Lyttelton. :( -
Yeah, I’m sure management’s hard to do well. That’s why the pay is good. I’d suck at it- have when I’ve had the role, and will if it finds me again. I find managing a paper filing system close to impossible, and paper doesn’t talk back, mock, burst into tears or sabotage your every initiative. Not to mention the politics.
But when-Planning
-Organizing
-Leading
-Controllinglose connection, respect and common purpose with the everyday ground-floor daily activity of an organisation, it is painful to behold and seldom works well for the bottom line of a business.
Been there. Got the Hair-shirt :)
ETA: and yes, it often ends up in a failure to run a profitable, humming enterprise. -
That's an intriguing idea, Neil. Truly.
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I’m with Danielle. The only managers I’ve had who were worth their salt knew the business through and through, and could do most of our jobs pretty well- if not better than any of us. They stayed close to the ‘shop-floor’ (or the staff tea-rooms:)) and knew damn well when things were running well, and when they weren’t, and who and what and why.
There’s a management philosophy, typified by TVNZ head-honcho Rick Ellis in the 1990s when he quipped- “it doesn’t matter if it’s television or baked beans- the principals are exactly the same” that seems to insist management involves no more than a set of generic strategies and a bland reliance on ‘metrics’. Such managers are seldom found in the tearoom, seldom win respect, and generally head off to the next ‘generic management opportunity’ at the drop of a KPI.
</rant> I should add: I’ve had this discussion with folks from business schools and the southern institute of management, and by-and-large, they all agreed. None of them taught MBA classes, so I blame the “MBA” :)
ETA: of course this doesn't mean 'all managers are evil'- or bad managers. Just that the average caliber in NZ is... not brilliant. NZ rates as a very good place to do business, and ranks well in educational achievement. Our business success, productivity, average wage, etc all rank somewhat lower. Some of the responsibility for this does, I think, lie with management. -
Hard News: A few (more) words on The Hobbit, in reply to Sacha,
Great analogy, Ben.
Ditto. Spot on.
And there's an element of our worst side in secretly hoping the Aussies do "fuck up badly." Who would that be good for, really?