Before retirement
home built in 2010
No-one else does Greek Revival architecture in New Zealand anymore
Office premises I built near Nelson
Perhaps what you really need in life is a private lake.
Fun fact: in many NZ council district plans, a ‘water storage dam’ is a permitted activity and does not require resource consent, or oddly enough even a fence!
OK, so my office was quite nice
Sometimes you need to go for a great deal of leather and mahogany
But then every employee got a classy private office
Open plan work environments are an afront to both common sense, and the humanity of staff
Let me guess, your employer probably would not see the value in providing landscaping like this.
Yes, that is a pedal boat on the private lake at the office.
Yes, that is a pedal boat on the private lake at the office.
On Litigation
My company’s level of profitability and approach to doing things differently had the unfortunate side-effect of occasionally drawing attention from people suffering from unmitigated jealously. I do not come from a privileged background, never attended tertiary
education, and achieved results based on hard work, strategic thinking, the willingness to do things differently, and self-funding the company. It was also important to never compromise on doing the right thing, irrespective of the personal cost.
My company initiated defamation action against a prominent media organisation – which was settled out of court, to our substantial financial favour. This episode and others provide an abject lesson to honest in reporting, and not making up wholesale untruths. Failure to tell the truth can result in financial pain and your television show being cancelled.
Still, significant damage – not just to individuals but to the wider economy – can be done by those unwilling to contain their envy. During its existence, my company earned very significant amounts of export earnings, employed in total some 60 people, and contributed tens of millions of dollars in taxation to the nation’s coffers.