This is the audio of a very short story by O'Henry from more than 100 years ago called 'The Gift of the Magi'.  

A short reflection I hope helps one of you as we come to a time of rest and reflection and planning for the future.  

Braided rivers in New Zealand are unique as they change often, moving along in the same general direction, but never ever staying exactly the same. Trying to plan every aspect of your life means you’ll miss out - to really see new opportunities, you have to be willing to also let directions shift, like a braided river, and go with where the water of new opportunities is flowing.

https://theseeds.nz/articles/braided-river-reflection/

The very first episode of Seeds was with Michelle Sharp so it was special to catch up and discuss UNICEF Aotearoa where she now is the CEO - we talk about the great work they do around the world in this episode.

The first episode on her life story is over here so have a listen to that to hear about her journey!  Its one of the best of the 400+ I've done so far.  https://theseeds.nz/podcast/michelle-sharp-on-kilmarnock-and-social-enterprises/

UNICEF Aotearoa: https://www.unicef.org.nz/ 

The second interview we did on Kilmarnock and key learnings here https://theseeds.nz/podcast/michelle-sharp-on-kilmarnocks-key-learnings/ 

More content is at www.theseeds.nz 

What is an Advisory Board? How are they used and when? What role do they play in Governance? The Institute of Directors in New Zealand have just published an article that I wrote on Advisory Boards.  The article is here: https://www.iod.org.nz/news/articles/advisory-boards-what-they-are-and-how-they-operate#   It is based on a conversation I had with Louise Broekman for Seeds.  It is a 3 minute read apparently, so short!  In it cover: - Explains what these boards are 🏄🏼‍♂️ - How they operate 🕹️ - differences to a formally appointed board 🌊 - How they might benefit organisations (like yours) today 🌱 It starts like this: “Louise Broekman is on a mission. She is travelling the world explaining the positive role that advisory boards can play in companies, charities and other organisations. She knows all about them as she founded the Advisory Board Centre which operates globally conducting research and providing training programmes on this topic. It’s important to get definitions and roles right – “advisory boards” are not the same as a governance board, which consist of the formally appointed directors of a company. Instead, advisory boards sit alongside governing boards and the management to provide insights that benefit both groups…”

The Advisory Board Centre site: https://www.advisoryboardcentre.com/  --- The article is based on a Seeds Podcast interview – have you listened to any of the 419 others? 🍎🌳

My conversation with Katherine started with Mountains and Nature, before we talked about her life, career and systems change.  This felt like a very grounded conversation as a result and I know you will enjoy hearing her insights about Wellbeing Economies and what they are.  If you like this then there are 420 other conversations as well - you can find out more at www.theseeds.nz 

Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa site: https://www.weall.org.nz/ 

Katherine's site: https://katherinetrebeck.com/ 

Katherine is a political economist, writer and advocate for economic system change. Her roles include writer-at-large at the University of Edinburgh, Economic Change Lead at The Next Economy, and Strategic Advisor to the Centre for Policy Development. She co-founded the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll) and also WEAll Scotland, its Scottish hub.

This panel discussion was at the Community Housing Aotearoa Conference 2024: Growing Together – Sharing Our Knowledge, held in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland.

Financing models for new affordable housing supply, a panel facilitated by: Steven Moe with Roy Thompson from New Ground Capital, Jamie Newth from Soul Capital, Luke Strom from Community Finance and Heiko Jonkers from Westpac

For more content visit www.theseeds.nz 

Soul Capital site: http://soul.capital 

Community Finance site: https://communityfinance.co.nz 

New Ground Capital Site: https://www.newground.co.nz 

Westpac site: https://www.westpac.co.nz 

Yesterday afternoon faciliatated a fascinating conversation with some amazing people at the Wellbeing Economy Alliance conference in Pōneke Wellington.  

Joining me were Rachel Brown (Sustainable Business Network), Manu Caddie (Hikurangi Enterprises), Kira Day (B Labs) and Kath Dewar (Good Sense).

We covered a lot of ground - the future of business, role of nature, philanthropy and hybrid structures, director duties and consideration of ESG, advice for a high growth startup acting sustainably, the new Community Housing Funding Agency and a whole lot more.  If you like this content check out the 400+ other conversations on Seeds Podcast at www.theseeds.nz   

Be watching out for my conversation with Katherine Trebeck who I was able to talk to at the event which will release soon.

Some links to things discussed.

Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa site: https://www.weall.org.nz 

Parry Field Lawyers https://www.parryfield.com/charities/social-enterprises-impact-companies/ 

Sustainable Business Network https://sustainable.org.nz 

B Lab site https://bcorporation.com.au/about/ 

Rua Bioscience https://www.ruabio.com 

Good Sense https://goodsense.co.nz 

Advisory Boards and how they can help governance are the topic of this conversation with Louise Broekman.  We hear about founding the Advisory Board Centre and also hear about her background and life journey as well.  Might an advisory board help your organisation, whether a business or charity?

For more conversations visit www.theseeds.nz 

Links and information from Louise:

Advisor Concierge Free Support Service:  https://www.advisoryboardcentre.com/advisory-board-support/  State of the Market Global Research Report:  https://www.advisoryboardcentre.com/our-research/state-of-the-market/  ABF101: Advisory Board Best Practice Framework:  https://www.advisoryboardcentre.com/our-research/abf101-best-practice-framework/  Louise Broekman Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louise-broekman/ 

James bring such a positive energy to every conversation so I enjoyed sitting down to talk with him.  We've known each other a while now so I liked hearing about his childhood and what has shaped him and we have a great chat about alcohol as well.  If you enjoy this then why not check out some of the other life stories as well as there are more than 400 of those.  

Lead on Purpose podcast: https://www.jjlaughlin.com/podcast 

For more content visit www.theseeds.nz 

Alcohol - we do not talk about it much but perhaps we need to.  This is an excerpt of my much longer conversation with James Laughlin which will be released soon.  Make sure you listen in to that when it comes out.  More content is at www.theseeds.nz 

James has a podcast too over here, check it out High Performance Leadership Training: Life & Executive Coach

Listen to Sarah Rusbatch who spoke with James - she is the author of the best selling book “Beyond Booze, How to create a life you love Alcohol Free’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DWOieHOnv8 

The conversation he had that we mention with Ruari Fairbairns Leadership & Alcohol with Ruari Fairbairns

For more conversations visit www.theseeds.nz