I was a COBOL programmer. Not a very good one, but that didn’t matter in the early 1980s. Back then, every Tuesday’s Australian newspaper featured a twenty-four-page IT section, of which many pages advertised programming and analyst positions available, with most from...
The old fisherman with the summertime job running the rusty merry-go-round on Terrigal Beach taught me how to rig my fishing lines. He reckoned there was only one fishing knot I’d ever need – the locked half-blood knot. While my mates say I’m wasting money...
I love my vinyl record collection. It started when I discovered Electric Warrior in early ’76. The collection continues to grow despite Anna’s opinion that I’m a hoarder. Regular vinyl still beats the best digital sound – vinyl is so much bigger, brighter and better....
I reckon Shaftesbury Avenue was one of Australia’s greatest weight-for-age horses. Although dominated in handicapped races of the early 1990s by another great horse, Super Impose, I have always believed Shaftesbury was a better horse. I’m biased. My...
“I just want a handful of good clients without all the stress and grief.” This was from the principal of a well-established firm with a fast-growing team. It is a common situation facing owners who appear to have built a successful advisory firm but who...
Heard about Grameen Bank – the bank for the poor? It presents a powerful working model of trickle-up development. Founded in the mid-1970s by Muhammad Yunus in a country lacking first and second-world finance infrastructures, it has sprouted up in over 80,000...
