http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/ The latest Blog feeds from www.lifewod.co.nz en-us Tue, 18 Aug 2026 06:21:26 +1200 Rocketspark http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/post/168194/your-personal-brand-doesnt-start-with-your-logo-it-starts-with-your-dna/ Most personal branding starts in the wrong place. It starts on the surface, with the headshot, the tidy profile, the clever tagline and the posting schedule. Real influence works the other way around. It starts at your core, with who you actually are, and it builds outward from there.A couple of weeks ago I was coaching one of my DIAL clients, Tania. We'd started the call talking about LinkedIn. Before long, we were talking about her Matariki weekend instead. She was telling me about building a ... Sun, 02 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +1200 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/#post168194 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/post/168196/youre-brilliant-at-your-job-your-linkedin-doesnt-show-it/ A client recently sat staring at the “Start a post” box. Not for a few seconds. Long enough that it got uncomfortable.They know their stuff. Smart, experienced, well respected. If I needed someone to solve a problem in their field, I’d call them. But when it came to sharing what they knew, they froze. “What do I even post?”So they did what most people do. Scrolled a few posts, looked at what everyone else was saying, closed LinkedIn and got on with their day. I see it all the time. Not... Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +1200 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/#post168196 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/post/167145/getting-your-reps-in-and-getting-started/ Hill sprints this morning. And that first one was hard.I’d stayed at Dr Louise Schofield’s place in Takapuna the night before. We headed out at 6.45am for a run along the beach, then found a quiet street for hill sprint repeats.That first sprint felt endless. I didn’t know where the finish was. I kept looking at my watch, wondering how much longer I had to go. Funny how 90 seconds can take so long.By the last set (well, my fifth, because I pushed the wrong button on my Garmin!) I ran my be... Fri, 03 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +1200 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/#post167145 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/post/164680/ai-is-brilliant-it-still-cant-replace-hi/ A business owner emailed me this week. His team had been getting some good wins using AI agents. He was pleased, sounded good to me. I said just that, and offered to help with the strategy sitting behind it. That’s the conversation worth continuing right now. We have powerful new AI tools. They’re streamlining delivery. They’re helping teams get results faster than ever... when there’s a real strategy in place. The catch is making sure the strategy is there in the first place. And t... Mon, 18 May 2026 16:04:14 +1200 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/#post164680 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/post/163692/what-does-a-fractional-cmo-actually-do/ I was at a women’s weekend retreat recently – Lochinvare Station. Someone asked what I do.“Fractional CMO,” I said. Puzzled look in return.Fair enough. Let me break it down, because even people well inside the business world haven’t always encountered this title – and if you’re an owner-led business wondering whether you need one, you deserve a straight answer, not a LinkedIn buzzword.... Thu, 23 Apr 2026 15:50:19 +1200 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/#post163692 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/post/163152/parkinsons-law-in-business-what-are-you-actually-paying-for/ I have a client, Ross McConnell, who has a name for everything. Drama triangles. Back-channelling authority. The man is a walking index of behavioural frameworks I hadn't heard of until I met him.Last week he introduced me to Parkinson's Law in business.... Mon, 06 Apr 2026 11:08:44 +1200 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/#post163152 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/post/162603/we-need-marketing-lets-hire-a-junior/ Many business owners reach a point where they look around and realise something important.“We need to do more marketing.”Maybe visibility has dropped. Growth has slowed. Competitors seem louder online. The website hasn’t been updated in months. Or there was a LinkedIn page set up, but no posts yet.So the conversation begins. “We should hire someone to handle the marketing.” And very often the next sentence is, “maybe we bring in a junior.”Someone young. Someone digital savvy. Someo... Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +1300 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/#post162603 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/post/162608/your-core-values-shouldnt-sound-like-everyone-elses/ Have you ever walked into an office and seen core values like Trust. Integrity. Passion. Excellence. listed on the wall?I have. And every time, I inwardly sigh.Not because those things are bad, but because they’re not unique.Change the logo sitting above them and they could belong to almost any organisation.And if your values sound like every other company’s values, they’re probably not really your true values at all.And if they’re that generic, are they even memorable? Because if your t... Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +1300 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/#post162608 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/post/162604/what-a-1-million-view-reel-taught-me-about-marketing/ We decided to have a pun party.What’s a pun party, you might be wondering? A pun party is when you arrive dressed up as a play on words.Believe me, the ideas we had thrown around while preparing for New Year's Eve were a whole lot of fun. Ideas like putting a cross around your neck and turning up as a crossdresser, or putting the label 'Richard' on your head and introducing yourself as a dickhead. My 15-year-old son suggested grabbing a cooking pot from the kitchen and putting it on his head s... Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +1300 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/#post162604 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/post/162601/embedding-core-values-into-everyday-business/ Ok, so you have your core values in your reception area. Maybe you have them in the kitchen or down a hallway. Possibly you’ve printed them onto an annual diary too.That’s a great start. Making them visible to your team.The next question is, are they just decoration? Or are they part of your culture?Core values come to life through behaviour.They show up in the way leaders communicate, how people are hired, how decisions are made, and what behaviours are recognised or challenged inside the o... Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +1300 http://www.lifewod.co.nz/blog/#post162601