Books

  Paul Barry, who has been writing about the Packer family for more than 15 years, combines observation with well-honed investigative skills, to focus on fourth generation James Packer.  Assuaging our curiosity about the world of the rich and famous, Barry’s unauthorised biography, which follows books on Alan Bond, Kerry Packer and the Murdochs, took three years and involved about 230 interviews with teachers, schoolmates and friends.Starting with recent times, the prologue ‘Unlucky Jim’ describes James Packer sitting in front of his computer watching the markets fall in early 2009, “haemorrhaging wealth at a rate of $8000 a minute, $480,000 an hour or $11.5 million a day.” In the space of a year he had waved goodbye to two-thirds of his

  Unless your child was seriously into skateboarding while growing up, there’s a strong chance you’ll never have heard of Tony Hawk. To put it mildly, Hawk is the most famous and influential skateboarder of all time. He is the man who put skateboarding on the map in the US, and right around the world – transforming it from a fringe pursuit into a respected sport.How Did I Get Here? is Tony Hawk’s amazing story, written by the man himself with help from older sister Pat, tracing his journey from young skateboarder to CEO of Tony Hawk, Inc – a company he continues to develop and grow.Hawk talks about how authenticity has served him well in all his achievements and

  It’s not surprising to find out Sean D’Souza was a cartoonist before writing The Brain Audit.  Along with an entertaining thumbprint-style cartoon character appearing on most pages, it’s reflected in his jaunty writing style.Like many of today’s business and personal incentive books, the message in this 150-odd page publication comes with summaries, checklists and in this case, website strategy workshops. D’Souza says he has done this to ensure we absorb the information. “The book is not a magic potion but gives a deep insight into what makes our brains respond and what causes our brains to ignore a message”.It’s about Psychotactics – understanding psychological marketing ideas or learning the psychology behind what makes your customer’s brain tick.This isn’t the first version

      Jimmy Choo is a household name to followers of luxury fashion. The exclusive London shoe brand hit the limelight when it was worn by Princess Diana and in the fashion trend-setting series Sex in the City. Packed with names of celebrities and glamorous designer brands, the 232-page paperback with index and notes (the Jimmy Choo Company did not participate in its writing, so quotes from key players come from published articles acknowledged in notes at the end), is described as “the tale of a London society girl who built up one of the most talked about shoe brands in the world”.  The person referred to is Tamara Mellon (Yeardye) and the brand, Jimmy Choo.  The story starts in May 2005

    Michael Hill agrees times are tough, but says rather than panicking as the global economy crunches, now is the time to reassess your business by asking: ‘What are we doing well? What could we do better? What sort of business could we become?’  Today with 250 jewellery stores worldwide and the intention of growing this to 1000 by 2022, Hill tells us “There’s no secret to my success. All I needed was to find out what I really wanted from life”.   When Michael Hill’s dream of being a professional violin player was dashed, the 16 year old joined his Uncle Arthur’s jewellery shop as a watchmaker. Hill explains that it took his home going up in flames 23

  I'm betting not too many NZBusiness readers head up mega-massive international oil companies, so it’s fair to grizzle about why any striving entrepreneur from Taradale or Twizel would want to read this book.The simple answer is: besides being highly topical, at its heart, this book is about a company focusing on the wrong things. In BP’s case, it’s about a fractured management culture that talked about safety yet emphasised profit. Drowning in Oil is a sorry tale of what can happen when a company makes long-running cuts to training, outsources key staff and focuses on the dollars at the expense of people. Sound familiar? It’s about listening to staff when they raise concerns. And it’s about homing in on what an