Lyttelton recover

The first of a couple of personal blog posts just prior to heading over to speaking at Intranets 2012 in Sydney next week.

I live in Lyttelton, New Zealand. We've had a bit of a rough time recently, but because of the wonderful people who live here I love being part of the Whakaraupo (Lyttelton) basin.
One of the great characters around our town (even though he lives around the corner in Red Cliffs) is Aaron Tokona.

Since the earthquakes I've been lucky enough to catch up with Aaron at two local social events, where he shared his love through his skills as a musician and show man. In both cases he went beyond the call of duty because of his personal relationship to the people who were having the events and the community.

The impetus for this post was an article in a local magazine Avenues, that interviewed Aaron. What really stood out to me was how Aaron's personality came through in the article.

To me Aaron embodies being true to your calling. Personally and professionally I believe this is an essential part of life, and something I work to achieve, with varying degrees of success.

Heading to Intranets 2012 next week is part of my doing the thing I think I can make a difference in. My professional whanau (Maori word for extended family) will be really well represented, I'll learn a huge amount and hopefully I'll be able to pass on some of what I've learnt too.

Taking Aaron's closing comment

I'm looking forward to bringing a little bit of Otautahi Mean! to Sydney next week.

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