Seeds

Joe has just finished co-writing "Silver Linings" with David Downs about the impact of Covid on businesses and the pivots they went through as a result. In this interview we find out about that but also dive deep into his background and hear about his childhood in England, moving to New Zealand at a young age, the work he was involved in before co-founding Nanogirl Labs and how they coped with Covid. We also have a great part of the conversation thinking about what the important things are that have been highlighted from the Pandemic. The event we discuss is taking place at the end of March 2021 and tickets are available here https://www.silverlinings.nz/

Nanogirl Labs: https://www.nanogirllabs.com

The book: https://www.penguin.co.nz/books/silver-linings-9780143775478

National Youth Theatre Company: https://nyt.nz

Coastguard NZ: https://www.coastguard.nz

LinkedIn article on pivoting: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leading-our-business-through-covid-19-joe-davis/

This is a short excerpt of my conversation with Joe Davis who is a co-founder and the CEO of Nanogirl Labs. In it he talks about the impact of Covid on Nanogirl Labs as well as the book that has resulted called "Silver Linings". We also talk about what it is that we can learn from the experience and ask whether we go back to "normal" or we actually change the way we act in the future - "what is really essential?". Check out the full interview soon and there is more content at www.theseeds.nz

Nanogirl Labs: https://www.nanogirllabs.com

The book: https://www.penguin.co.nz/books/silver-linings-9780143775478

National Youth Theatre Company: https://nyt.nz

Coastguard NZ: https://www.coastguard.nz

Paul has had an interesting life including a childhood in Ilam Homestead, made famous by the movie "Heavenly Creatures" and in this episode we talk about his background, his time overseas, business in the Himalayas and what he does today. I was curious to understand from him what it is that makes a good interview and how recruiting works as he is involved in that at Sunstone. If you enjoy this check out other interviews at www.theseeds.nz

Sunstone: https://sunstonetalent.com

Faumuina Felolini Maria Tafunai's life and journey has been fascinating - in this interview we find out about what it is like to grow up with two cultures, being born in New Zealand but with strong connections back to Samoa. In particular we focus in on Wayfinding - this originates from "a geneology of knowledge passed down through Pacific star navigators and ocean voyagers". She wants to use Pacific Wayfinding to design better aid and development programmes. Her reflections on nature and what it is like to be out on the ocean are very insightful. Check out the last episode for a 4 minute summary. If you enjoy this have a look at other interviews at www.theseeds.nz

About Wayfinding: https://www.flyinggeesepro.nz/

YouTube video of her talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y58Xf474NaQ&feature=youtu.be

Wayfinding article: https://www.ehf.org/blog/swe2a87gjavk3i0brqd2buom9z1hec

A short excerpt of the interview with Faumuina Felolini Maria Tafunai where we talked about the ocean and long voyages and what she has learned from spending time learning from nature.

About what she does: https://www.flyinggeesepro.nz/

YouTube video of her talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y58Xf474NaQ&feature=youtu.be

Wayfinding article: https://www.ehf.org/blog/swe2a87gjavk3i0brqd2buom9z1hec

Jan has had an interesting life as a citizen of the world and a co-founder of CarbonClick. In this interview we learn about his childhood in Norway and travels since then and how he ended up - by a serendipitous encounter - living in New Zealand. We also talk about the work of CarbonClick as well as the Edmund Hillary Fellowship which Jan is part of. I really enjoyed this conversation and if you do as well you might want to check out some of the more than 240 other episodes in the back catalogue. www.theseeds.nz

CarbonClick: https://www.carbonclick.com/

Sacha McMeeking spoke at the 2020 Hillary Laureate Dinner to give the closing remarks. She somehow managed to weave together so many unique threads that touched on colonisation, climate change, Te Ao Māori and some real challenges about who we are taking along with us and will lead in the future. Sacha is Head of School of Aotahi: Māori and Indigenous Studies at the University of Canterbury. The evening was to honour the latest Hillary Institute Laureate, Christiana Figueres.

Other speeches and videos are here: https://www.hillaryinstitute.com/2020-hillary-laureate-dinner

This talk as video: https://youtu.be/7d1LCK_9754

Some excerpts of the talk:

"One of the practises in Te Ao Māori that I don't think we have carried through enough is that most of our chiefly types didn't get there because they were the best person for the job, they got their because when they were young somebody picked them and made them do something they were utterly unprepared to do. So collective imagination should be partnered with - where is your Rangatahi, who are you taking with you? What we need to do here tonight is to clothe each other in expectation… I challenge you all to ask yourselves - what are you going to give up? Who are you going to believe in? Who are you going to jump start? And what are you going to expect them to do for the world. I can tell you a few things that I expect all of you to do because I know quite a few of you and I know your potential, I know your roles, I know your talents - that knowledge is arguably the most important component for belief. When we talk about Manaakitanga, it's one of those words that makes us feel good, because we think about hospitality and being cared forgot if you are going to Manaaki someone, you have got to know them - you have got to genuinely know them, you have got to genuinely care… so if we are genuinely going to do all of those things, then we have also got to deepen the relationships with each other, which is the reason I am most grateful to be here tonight sharing with you under an envelope of expectations that you will give up something tonight, that you will take someone with you tomorrow and that collectively we will self determine a better future."

"It would be quite common at this point for a Maori speaker to tell you soothing tales from our traditional knowledge - but that's not my lane... Instead what I want to do is talk to you about our practices and what I think our practices can teach us all. The first is the power of small deeds. I think in New Zealand we are really uncomfortable with small deeds… we are a small country so we don't like small things. We like to be the first to grant women the vote and we like to be doing grand international statements like nuclear free. But I think actually what things like the Ngai Tahu settlement teach us is this power of small deeds. So one of the things in the Ngai Tahu settlement which, when I was young and impetuous and probably a bit arrogant, I didn't't understand at all was the power off the place name changes. So in the Ngai Tahu settlement, and in all settlements that followed, there are a raft of place name changes. And I used to think but there is so much egregious unconscionable history - how can place name changes be at a level commensurate to offset the horrors of that history. And then as I got older and started to appreciate that it is not just radical protest action that changes the world, I realised that the power of place names is that it changes habits. So that now it is the exception to be on a plane when they actually fly and the pilot doesn't mention Aoraki. That power of changing habits is remarkable and it is something that I think we need to get more familiar with. Because we expect and perhaps with the naivety and impetuosity of youth that's got a long hangover - we expect that grand normative wins will change the world. We expect that the declaration of women's equality will translate to pay equity and a reduction in domestic violence. But that grand normative change has done neither of those things - what has moved us closer to those are the small steps, the changes to habit, the changes to daily routine. And that is what place name changes did. So just over 20 years ago when the Ngai Tahu settlement was passed it caused outrage that we might refer to this landscape by its original names. And now it is just habit, now it is just an expectation because day by day, small step by small step, normative change came through habit, through routine. And that is something that we all have the power to do. So my first challenge is to look at our daily habits and our daily routines."

A profile on Sacha in Stuff: https://i.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/123070316/activist-and-advocate-for-social-change

For more content visit www.theseeds.nz

Levi shares some of his life journey so far as a young entrepreneur who has been involved in a few start-ups already and recently co-founded Partly. We talk about that venture which builds software solutions to solve difficult problems in the automotive parts industry. As well as rapid growth and what he's learned raising $1.7 million in funding we also learn about his childhood and startups at University as well as his working at Rocketlab and the key things he learned there as an engineer. Some of the key takeaways from our discussion:

• Don't be afraid to be ambitious – aim high
• Get the right people involved and establish a good culture
• Learn from what you try at first, nothing is wasted – even if not a "success" it provides fuel for the next initiative
• Be prepared to have hard conversations if things are going along "fine"
• You may need to ask some hard questions and pivot to a new approach rather than just surviving

Check out Partly here https://www.partly.com

We mention the work being done by Rob Vickery and the Hillfarrance site has some good resources too https://hillfarrance.com

The Blackbird investment notes on Partly are interesting too https://blackbird.vc/blog/investment-notes-partly/

Ministry of Awesome: https://ministryofawesome.com

There are a lot of other resources at www.theseeds.nz

In this very short interview we chat with Stephen Penny who was on the show pre-Covid. He told his life story then and in this episode we catch up on the topic of looking after ourselves and our mental health - how can we do better at checking up on those around us? LinkedIn Post we discuss: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/honorisstephenpenny_supportingeachother-askforhelp-activity-6734383145438867456-NtZi

Earlier interview with Stephen: https://seeds.libsyn.com/steve-penny-on-the-future-of-designing-buildings-and-lessons-from-being-an-entrepreneur

Honoris, Stephen's company: https://honoris.co.nz/our-team

For more visit www.theseeds.nz

I interview a lot of people but seldom get the mic turned the other way round, so this wide ranging chat with Ian Harvey from Collective Intelligence for his podcast "Stuff that Matters Now" was a lot of fun. Harv was a guest on Seeds in 2019 and came to a session I did on how to create a podcast - so he has the same gear as me! It was fun to appear on his show for his episode 34 and I encourage you to check out his other conversations too as he is producing some high quality interviews with some amazing people. In this episode we talk about my background and origins, growing up in New Zealand, becoming a lawyer, moving to purpose driven work, the changing paradigms of thinking around impact as well as the Edmund Hillary Fellowship we both just joined.

Stuff that Matters Now is in podcast apps or click here: https://www.collectiveintelligence.co.nz/stuff-that-matters-now/

Collective Intelligence: https://www.collectiveintelligence.co.nz

Description by Harv of the episode: "There are many facets to Kiwi-raised American, Steven Moe. Despite interviewing several hundred people for his own impact-inspired weekly podcast, Seeds, he's not shared much of his own story and journey with his listeners. So here it is! Fellow EHF fellow Ian Harvey asks the question 'Who is Steven Moe?' and riffs with him about his transition to living a purpose-led impactful life. We credit Steven for inspiring us to embark upon the 'Stuff that Matters Now' podcast journey and love the serendipity of Harv interviewing Steven in the same room in Christchurch that Steven interviewed Harv in, back in 2019."