Graeme Allan Beals is not Gen Y, he does not live in Auckland and asks nothing more of others than he expects from himself. At 54 years, with three grown up children, he is currently working on some of his best and most exciting ideas. He has big goals around books and the principles of healthy thinking.

He has just returned from the Frankfurt Book Fair (the world’s largest) where he and his wife Jane create opportunities for Kiwi authors. I caught up with him just before he left and tried to understand what makes him tick and what drives him to leave Taranaki on a very regular basis to visit the big city.

• Publishme.co.nz (a fast growing assisted self-publishing option which has attracted over 2000 members in its first year of operation),
• Curriculum Concepts (an educational publishing arm) and
• Zenith Print (a sizable specialist digital book-print operation).
• I also run our finance company; Aspire Finance Ltd (thankfully we only loaned – never borrowed)
• I work in The Healthy Thinking Institute Ltd in which we have a shareholding.
• It sounds like a strange mix but there are many synergies.

• I’m really interested in the interplay between mind, body and spirit and the power of the mind to turn paradise to hell, or vice versa. As part of that I feel very connected to nature and spend a lot of time walking in bush or by the sea and rivers, growing things and just dreaming outdoors.
• As a publisher, of course I also do a lot of reading, in matters related to business, politics and people’s interconnectedness with the physical and the less obvious. As a scientist and educator I also read a lot in these areas, though I am a major science skeptic in many ways these days. So much science proves nothing more than the narrowness of the researcher’s mindset or the perversity created by science funding systems.
• I also celebrate the roles the various arts play in enriching us spiritually/creatively and the opportunity to travel and share in the rich cultural diversity within and beyond New Zealand. My family is the hub from which these explorations radiate.

• I am dad to three great kids – the eldest girl Emma (27), a communications manager to the Chief Executive of the Lambeth City Council in London, my son Hadleigh (25) Associate Director at UBS bank in Auckland working in mergers and acquisitions, and my youngest daughter Bridget (22) one of the few girls on the trading floor at Westpac in Wellington, spearheading Commodities and Carbon Trading.
• I’m of the age where ailing parents take a lot of time too – a time to give a little back. I visit daily over lunchtime and I cook the evening meals so Jane can visit over tea time. It’s all highly choreographed, but it works.
• I’m on the Taranaki Arts Community Trust running the TArt Gallery for the development of Taranaki’s visual artists and Limelight for our performing artists.

• I’m pleased that we have started publishme.co.nz to give New Zealand authors their voice back as the publishing world is transformed to the detriment of their traditional pathways, and I feel that we are well placed to bring them unique value from being their own publishers.
• I’m delighted my kids are off the payroll and into exciting avenues of endeavour that will open up great opportunities for them to add value to the world too, and that after 33 years married (I was 20 – Jane 19) we still have a great relationship that allows each of us to grow as people without shading one another.
• As General Manager of Distance Learning and IT at Practical Education Training Centre Ltd (one of NZ’s largest PTE’s) I set up a distance education model for their 4000 students (75% Maori, 75% women at home – often on DPB) which dramatically altered engagement and pass rates such that it became the model the Government has put in place for all funded distance education in NZ now.

• Tweeking the website (as you do)
• Follow up from our stand at the Frankfurt Bookfair.
• Development of the Healthy Thinking courses & formation of the Foundation.
• Overseeing the finance company.

• Have 5000 publishme.co.nz members by Christmas.
• Attract $1m into the Healthy Thinking Foundation

• Start an online model- as it seemed obvious to me at the time that if publishing was dead or dying because they couldn’t sell enough books or had to give away more margin than they could afford to, NZ authors couldn’t get published, and the public was increasingly being offered international titles in bookstores, that they were going to still want NZ material.
• I looked at what other creatives were doing – musicians were delivering direct to the customer online as were film-makers increasingly and I realized that these two markets had just beaten books to that point because they were largely the preserve of the young and tech-savy screenagers, but as the older book readers caught up technologically, they would also want the same.
• I gave it a lot of thought and decided that if we could offer the author effectively an entire small publishing house – i.e. all the help with preparation, marketing, sales and accounting that they would need, then we could disintermediate the publisher.
• The author would make the same or more from fewer sales, and we’d do well charging very small amounts for making it all happen for them.
• Also, if we could aggregate enough NZ writers into the one spot, as TradeMe did with goods-traders, then the economies of scale would benefit all – print would be cheaper and a customer brought to the shop by one writer would see the books of another and so forth.

• As part of the healthy way of thinking, I will have first programmed my brain’s expectation centre with words like prefer and rather than must and should, so that I’m little damaged by such things which are, after all, a regular part of life. You’re setting yourself up for constant falls if you hold too tightly to targets, as in this sort of exciting business environment, there will be plenty.
• Usually I try to jump over to the other person’s side (by thinking or talking to those who are there – customers or whoever) and try to see it from their viewpoint. That often changes your approach to something more successful.
• But we always take the longterm view. There’s no point in poisoning the water to catch animals. You’ll catch yourself at some point.

• Learn to think effectively. We get letters from all over the world from people who’s lives have been changed – in some cases saved – by learning to think in a healthy way. These simple techniques to gain control of their thoughts, and thereby, of their emotions.
• Other than that, I’d also add two other things that serve me well time and again;
  • doing what you always do will get you what you always got, and
  • when everyone else is turning right, take a good hard look at what’s happening going left. That’s often where opportunity lies.

• In life –  that no matter how good or deserving you are, when it’s your turn to go, it’s your turn to go. Life’s not ‘fair’, so live it fully while you can and be thankful every day for the fact that you can.
• In business – it is all founded on trust unless you are large enough or concerned enough to back up your contracts with litigation. Thankfully, most can be trusted and doing business with them is a pleasure. However, some people can’t be. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. If the person who is offering you the deal is telling you about a sneaky way they make money, then expect to be shafted. I value integrity, expect it in my business associates and staff, and like to be able to rely on it. If you deal with people of integrity, contracts are effectively just a way of expressing the shared terms of agreement or vision.

• Total integrity (like pregnancy, you can’t be a little bit integritous).
• The ability to interrelate ideas from different settings.
• An adventurous spirit.

• Listening
• Noticing – being present
• Wondering – how, why and what particularly

• I just know in my inner self. I trust my intuition. I sleep on it and if it still seems a great idea, I’ll go with it.
• I am more able these days to take note of the inner warning voice. “Do you REALLY want to get tied up for two or three years doing this?’
• I’ve got tons of ideas that I’ve reserved for another lifetime or that I occasionally give away to the right person.

• Getting getfrank.co.nz into profit
• Buying out our competition – bigfella.co.nz
• Stepping get frank. into the Australian market
• Organising the Getfrank Winter Experience

• Blue Skiing for another round of investment to take the brand up another level.
• Living in a caravan down in Takapuna Holiday Park – cheapest beach front property in Auckland!
• 2 months into Cross Fit training regime, getting the body back up to its peak. (Used to be an international rep in double mini trampoline – 20th World championships, 4th Teams)

• Searching for an effective way to connect with a professional male market - crazy lightbulb moment, a common sense solution. Win-win-win-win-win for all involved.
• Took a pen and paper, and wandered around Otago University until the sun came up sketching out a ‘catch 22’ path to build the business from nothing.

• Post it notes, once something is on the list I won’t leave until it’s done.
• Self discipline – I get up at 5.30 every morning so I can work without distractions.
• Watching the sun rise over Rangitoto from the caravan window every morning makes it worth it.

• Vision
• Tenacity
• A Drive to learn

  Tom Bowden is an achiever. He does not do anything in half measures. He and his wife have five children aged from 17 years to five-year-old twins. His other ‘baby’ is HealthLink, a long-standing public-private partnership with the New Zealand Ministry of Health. Not surprisingly, this doesn’t leave much time for anything else. After setting up his own business at the age of 21, Tom has been a committed entrepreneur ever since, stopping only to do an MBA which helped him become even more fascinated with the transition from paper-based processes to electronic ones and how to use the changes to achieve his own goals.

• Chief Executive of HealthLink Ltd
• Involved in electronic communications for 20 years
• Built HealthLink from scratch, starting in 1993
• HealthLink now has offices in Auckland, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth
• Responsible for the exchange of one million pieces of patient information per week
• Has five children and lives in a 150-year-old historic home in Parnell, Auckland
• Propagates native plants and grows old roses as a hobby

• Never, ever give up on something that makes sense, however hard it is to achieve
• Understand and try to influence the main drivers that are affecting your environment - eg Government
• Understand your business in great detail and respect those who can do likewise
• Be very clear about your five most important strategies and pursue them relentlessly
• Be a force for good in your community and in your work environment

What are you passionate about? How can you use this passion to achieve your goals?

We all have our constituents and supporters, even if we are not in politics. How do you go about managing perceptions around you in order to achieve your own goals? How do you live your own goals, while knowing that you are part of a community of others with their own needs?

As we head to elections in some key countries across the world- it becomes evident that it helps to have a clear idea of what you stand for, if you want people to support your ideas. It also helps to be able to clearly identify what value you can add to your supporters and inner circle.

How do you go about getting support for your ideas? The same ideas that help you achieve your goals?

 In This Post: 

Steven Joyce has had a remarkable career so far and continues to push himself to new challenges. He shows us the attitude required to move from his degree in Zoology, and then transform one little radio station into the highly successful RadioWorks group.  He also lets us know of his intentions to make a big difference in the country though his upcoming role in politics. 

Jo Mills informs us how to negotiate the political minefield that many people often find themselves in, at the office- preventing them from achieving their lofty goals. She talks about 'PQ' - your "political intelligence" and how to use it to get ahead, how to form alliances and be authentically visible. Jo also gives us the Ten Tips for getting out of a career rut. 

Chris Wingate- who signed up to Livemygoals.com recently- is a man with a mission. Married 24 years with 4 kids,  he was a self made millionaire by the age of 25. He has lived in Australia, New Zealand, Vancouver and Hawaii.

In 1997 he funded Auckland school kid Scott Dixon to race Formula Holden then the following year he set up Scott Dixon Motorsport to fund Scott's racing career. In 2003 Dixon won the Indy Racing world title in his first attempt and then in 2008 won the Indy 500 and the Indy World Title.

No stranger to adventure himself, in 1999 Chris shipped a 4wheel drive to India and drove to London with Sir Peter Tapsell and Prof. Frank Brosnahan via India,Pakistan, Iran, Syria Jordon, Lebanon,Turkey etc.

Chris shares with us some of his goals around making judges and politicians more accountable!

Enjoy taking this moment and reflecting on  how other people are doing it, have done it, will do it.

Chris Wingate has oodles of character. If you have seen the film "Once Were Warriors" that was how Christopher Wingate grew up. The difference was his parents were white and the house a bit more flash. But all the other dynamics existed in Rotorua in the 1960's.

He knew from a young age he wanted a different life - he has always had big goals and so instead of spending his days hanging around the Western Heights shops he spent it in the bush or wondering around some of the tourist businesses talking with the owners.

"Each Friday night we would have fish and chips- one piece of fish each. The others would hog their piece of fish but I would focus on the chips knowing my fish would be there long after they had scoffed their fish. I guess then I knew I was different"

Married 24 years with 4 kids, Chris was a self made millionaire by the age of 25. He has lived in Australia, New Zealand, Vancouver and Hawaii.

In 1997 he funded Auckland school kid Scott Dixon to race Formula Holden then the following year he set up Scott Dixon Motorsport to fund Scott's racing career. In 2003 Dixon won the Indy Racing world title in his first attempt and then in 2008 won the Indy 500 and the Indy World Title.

No stranger to adventure himself, in 1999 Chris shipped a 4wheel drive to India and drove to London with Sir Peter Tapsell and Prof. Frank Brosnahan via India,Pakistan, Iran, Syria Jordon, Lebanon,Turkey etc.

He is currently filming a movie called GOVERNMENT, a 9/11 type film about what he calls "idiots in power."

What Drives Chris?

HOME TOWN

Rotorua (now lives in Australia)

HOBBIES

Reading, writing, painting, sculpture, poetry, cooking, studying humans, bush walks, humanities, law, nano technology, CERN, design, playing the piano, didgeridoo

LIFE GOAL

To make politicians and judges accountable by getting the public to help remove Crown and Judicial Immunity. Our political systems of managing our countries are a failure. We really need to separate the nice smiling people from the constructive ones. Our politicians and judges want mana and prestige which they prioritise over the more important responsibility of being the most important fiduciaries in the world. If any other fiduciary fails they only harm a few. If our politicians and judges fail they can and unfortunately do ruin the entire nation.

My Favourite Time of the day is...(and why)

Being woken by our pet birds at 5am. Here in Australia when you go outside the sound of the forest all around us is just coming alive like an orchestra.

I really enjoy...

My family and seeing others succeed in life.

List a few of your recent accomplishments that you are proud of:

Picking my sorry self up out of New Zealand after losing the Matakana litigation, coming back to Australia to start again from scratch. But my greatest success has been seeing my children being successful.

Did you celebrate them? How?

Everyday we talk about their objectives and goals. I tell them I am proud of them and encourage them to keep moving forward

I am busy at the moment doing:

We are currently filming a movie called GOVERNMENT, a 9/11 type film about idiots in power.

My big hairy audacious goal this year is to:

Lose weight and get really fit, and be a better father and husband.

I knew I was onto something when:

I realised intention was the prerequisite of doing.

My secret for getting things done is to:

Prioritise things. Draft a list of what I need to do. I recall the words of a Tibetan Monk who escaped the invading Chinese army by walking over the snow and ice covered mountains. When asked how he did it, he said "One step at a time"

My darkest hour was when:

I lost the Matakana Island litigation at the Privy Council. I had won the 4 week trial in the NZ High Court - the defendants were clearly guilty and all the documents and cross examination proved that. Then the Court of Appeal changed the facts and ignored others, I was shocked democracy could be so negligent or corrupt. The Privy Council were supposed to be the beacon of intelligence so when they rejected my appeal I just went blank.

I came through it by:

On the flight back sitting in first class talking with a Chinese businessman from Singapore we started talking about what we did. I explained I had just lost a court case and began talking about it all . I started showing him some photographs of Matakana Island from my briefcase and among those photo's were pictures of my family and our home, While looking at them I realised my family were about to lose their home as we had put everything into the litigation. Suddenly I found myself crying.

The Singaporean man put his hand over to mine and said " Maybe I don't know how bad things are for you but I want to consider this, imagine if you were on this flight for a different reason, imagine if one of your family had been killed and you were flying back to New Zealand for that reason, you would be here right now praying to god he take everything you own in exchange for that family member to be alive again. Money is not as important as family that is your priority and that is your wealth and reward". I got off the plane with a smile and my family needed that.

What would do if you were not ...

If I didn't do what I did I would love to be a postman. What a lovely calm life that would be.

What do you do to cope with stress?

As I have got older I cope better. Often I think of planet earth flying past in space and when I think of it from out there I remember whatever my problems are they really don't matter in the big picture.

How many hours do you work each week?

I guess I seldom stop if you consider thinking through things as work. The issues I am working on are huge. Everyone is caught up with the current system of political management but that system is failing and they know it. So where my mind is most hours of the day is reforming political management. By that I mean getting better performance from those who say to society "trust us with managing your society" The human apathy, technical, logistical and media obstacles in that are enormous and require endless thinking in order to hatch a plan to win. And I don't plan on losing the world can't afford that.

What do you do when things aren't going your way?

Never give up. But I don't keep banging my head against the wall I stand back from it and think about all the options. But the key is never, never give up the objective. And often the wall is an illusionary obstacle. In other words the things that you think are in the way are not really what's stopping you. And perhaps most important- when someone says no, don't worry about that, perhaps they just don't yet understand.

What is the most important piece of advice you'd give to people who are struggling to create a positive change in their lives?

You should never struggle to make a positive change because being alive is the most positive thing and with that whatever you think is getting you down is really not important in the scheme of things. People I come across who are in a rut are nearly always holding onto the rut like a blanket.

What is the hardest lesson you've had to learn in life?

Realising titles create the illusion ability exists. Learning to struggle with intelligent people in government power who have no common sense. Experiencing government incompetence among the drowning flood of silence.

What separates successful people from unsuccessful people?

Successful people do lots of things and unsuccessful don't do much at all. But success is in the heart not in the wallet. I know plenty of people with money but I only know a few of them with happiness. A friend of mine who taught swimming to the rich in Beverly Hills once said "The only happy people in Beverly Hills were the staff"

Do you have any daily rituals that help you keep focused and in the right mental state to succeed?

Go go go !!! Life is short. And remember the problem with doing nothing is you don't know when you are finished. So get off your bum and do something.

Do you have any school/study qualifications?

Dropped out at 15 with no educational qualifications but an attitude of I can do anything and I knew I wanted to see the world and be a success at whatever I did.

What are the three most important personal qualities you've had to develop to become a CEO?

I am still learning I don't think you ever stop that. But if I had my time over again the rules from the start would be - never lie, never steal, never do anything that wounds your soul, respect others, work hard and never give up.

What are the three most important skills that you would advise up and coming youngsters to develop?

Never do anything wrong that you can't come back from. Pay your bills. Talk about your objectives and explain how you require relationships in order to meet those objectives. In doing that everyone knows where you want to go and what part they can play in it. But for those who have tried and have failed, remember to rebuild to last we must be aware why we failed.

Who inspires you the most and why?

Firstly my wife. The greatest human I have ever known. If the world was seeded from her this would be a wonderful planet with wonderful people. There would be no wars and no problems.

But apart from her, Sir Peter Tapsell. He was a raised without shoes in a poor family. But his hard work and sense of drive led him to the top of sport, medicine and politics. Then in retirement he has found total happiness in saddling up his horse at 5am and riding into the hills to fix a fence, move livestock around. Peter lives life by looking forward, he never looks back. He is perhaps New Zealand's greatest son. I love the man dearly.

Do you have a formal goal setting process?

First goal is being able to see it and keeping your eye on it. When I was 18 Reg Ansett founder of Ansett airlines asked me if I could shoot a target at 50 yards on a barn door. When I said yes he then asked if I though I could beat the worlds best shooter to which I said no. He then said if you put a blindfold over the champion shooters eyes you could beat him. The lesson was it does not matter how much talent you have, if you can't see the target anyone can beat you. So if you want to hit a target you have to take off the blind folds in order to see the target. I have often thought about that. The blindfolds come in many forms with comments like you can't do that, you're too young, too old, it's too expensive, too hard, too far. Just focus on the target and don't let people put blindfolds on you.

Have you ever been scared to .........? What did you do about it?

I am not scared of anything which scares the hell out of those who travel with me. When my son was 8 we were screaming along on one hull out of the water on Lake Rotorua in our catamaran one cold windy winter's day. He was crying scared we would tip over and he would drown. I said to him if he feared dying and was hanging on doing nothing about it then would it not be better for him to try managing the event rather than being a passenger. He got the message and soon was helping me control the boat. That was one of his most important life lessons.

What comes first...success or confidence?

Confidence, you must have confidence about your plan. And as soon as you have confidence you have become more successful than those with money and no confidence. I recall an old Italian guy who owned a timber yard in Sydney talking about a young lad working for him who had just won lotto. He said "Everyone is saying he's rich. But he's not rich his heart, his soul is poor, he will never be rich."

The Parting Shot:

When I feel frustrated that things are not coming together as I wish, I proceed to... Again I look at the objective I am chasing and review the bridges and steps I am making to get me there. If you plant seeds, it's only one good seed that may count. But perhaps the most important thing I recall is something I wrote at the Privy Council in London. "The cost of failure is experience, but the cost for not trying is your soul"

• Do put 120 percent into everything you do, but don’t put your whole identity into your work. Be more than what you do.
• Find a way to be empowered in what you do – it will make you more effective
• Don’t wait. Start your exercise regime today.
• Opportunities come wrapped in the strangest disguises. When you face a major crisis at work – try to identify what your learning should be.
• Avoid the traffic – go in to work earlier and leave earlier (or vice versa) – that way you get to achieve more out of each day

 Dr Tom Mulholland