Deliver

At its Auckland launch, Mayor John Banks described Deliver as a pocket book resource, proving the point by showing how well it fitted in his back pocket.  

Not only is it a handy size, but it also has instant eye appeal. Colourful and delightfully illustrated, the 116-page publication is full of practical advice suited to the New Zealand business environment.

As the introduction explains, the seed for Deliver came from an annual letter written by the author to himself under four headlines – family, health, work and finance. 

“This letter sets up a scene that allows goals and dreams to be taken from the mind, written to the page, delivered to a trusted person and received back again.” Which raises the question, “What have we achieved over a set period of time?”

For Carey Smith, the writing of this book is a result of one of his goals he wrote in the letter to himself. 

Smith is CEO of Ray White New Zealand, and has 20 years of experience in the real estate industry. 

In 36 stories, each just two to four pages long, Smith looks at successful business leadership and offers tools to handle situations we deal with every day. 

Starting by describing each one of us as a business, whether we are self-employed or in a salaried position, he then looks at achieving long and short term success by devising a 1000 Day Plan.

Communication is a recurring subject and there’s advice on how to open up the lines of communication and a recommendation to role play with yourself before difficult discussions and negotiations.

One suggestion that could well be worth taking up concerns phone calls. Smith says “On most days I leave a voice message on my phone saying that I will respond to people who leave a message within 60 minutes. Suddenly I have control back over my day.”  Often the response is “There is no need to get back to me in 60 minutes Carey, this is not urgent”. 

Amongst other topics covered are; the consequences of deadlines, making those difficult phone calls, why armchair meetings are a good way to build relationships and the importance of enthusiasm as well as knowledge.

The final chapter talks about the little voice in our head every minute of every day, telling us how we are doing.

“Essentially that voice is the overpowering controller of our actions,” Smith says.

For Smith, his yearly letter short circuits negative talk, however he suggests other ways of achieving the same result.

Acknowledging that no one is born a winner, no one is born a loser but we are all born choosers, Deliver is full of practical advice to help make the right choices.

Usefulness: 8/10

Linda Donald is an Auckland-based freelance writer and reviewer. Email [email protected]