Thursday, 17 January 2008

92 – New Zealanders in Global Headlines January 17


New Zealand headlines in this week's sampling of global media appearing in New York Times, Times, Guardian, BBC, Financial Times, Sydney Morning Herald, Toronto Star, Tehran Times, Telegraph and Entertainment Weekly, include:

  • Kate Webb, war correspondent, and her edgy story in NY Times
  • Edmund Hillary, mountaineer, leader, dies, Auckland (88)
  • Greater Escaper Mick Shand RAF pilot, dies, Masterton (92)
  • Edwin Marr receives highest honor for China’s broadcasting role
  • Brendon McCullum 80 off 28 balls for Black Caps in record smash
  • Beautiful-bio-speed-boat Earthrace for second race around world
  • Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh secure rights, will produce The Hobbitt
  • Hayley Westenra’s Pure greatest recent classical record in UK
  • Rhys Darby, international comedian, named in Guardian awards
  • Operation Nest Egg to hatch 1000th kiwi chick egg in early 08
  • NZ private schools outperform UK, US – “best value on planet”
  • Richard Hayes, Te Anau helicopter pilot, Aeronautique award
  • TranzAlpine Christchurch-Greymouth world top 10 train journey
  • AirNZ serves 850k bottles NZ wine pa to international travelers
  • Gates, Nicholson, Theron, Depp reported holidaying in North

For full stories see http://www.nzedge.com/media, a 6,000-story storehouse of international activities by New Zealanders 2000-08.

Photo of Kate Webb: UPI/Bettmann/Corbis via New York Times. Gracias.

Sunday, 13 January 2008

Ed Hillary 1919-2008


BY KEVIN ROBERTS. On January 11 a great New Zealander passed away. Sir Edmund Hillary died at the age of 88 having never recovered from a fall he took in Nepal 8 months ago.

Ed lived up the road from me. (Only in New Zealand heroes/icons live “up the road”.) I got to know him 10 years ago when we were writing our first book on Peak Performance. We talked to Ed for hours and got lots of private footage of him talking about his experiences, his attitude, his beliefs. We use these to this day as the core of our Peak Performance Inspirational Leadership Program. Ed wrote the foreword to the book.

He then helped us enormously when Toyota took a Rav 4 to Everest and we shot commercials and a documentary around that. Ed was the voice.

I asked him what were his first thoughts on summiting Everest. He told me, “Well, firstly I was buggered but then as I caught my breath and saw that other great mountain right next to me. I could see right there that there was a new way to the Summit. No one had ever climbed it that way but from Everest I could see my next challenge right there.”

That’s what Peak Performance is all about. Getting to the top and then finding the next challenge. On challenges, Ed told me that a challenge wasn’t a challenge if you actually thought you could achieve it. What was the point fooling yourself with challenges that were in reach. The only fun was to constantly go after something that seemed unattainable. A true Nothing is Impossible spirit.

Ed conquered Everest in 1953 and was immediately knighted. I asked him what the impact of a knighthood was to “a pretty average New Zealander.” He said, “I use to walk around Papakura in my tattered overalls and the seat out of my pants. But that’s gone forever now. I’ll have to buy a new pair of overalls.”

Once over a bottle of wine and an early dinner I asked Ed about all the debate about whether Mallory had indeed conquered Everest many years before. (There was great excitement when his old Kodak Brownie was finally discovered and everyone was looking for proof. As it turned out the film was spoiled and there was no proof one way or the other.) Ed, in his typically laid back way, said to me “I’ve never thought it was getting to the top that counted. It’s getting back down that matters.”

A couple of years ago I was very honored to accompany Princess Anne on a special trip to Antarctica for three days to visit Shackleton’s huts and track his great adventure. I talked to Ed about this as, of course, he was also another Antarctica hero. He told me he was determined to make one last visit. He did in January 2007. Mission accomplished.

Ed was the greatest of New Zealanders.

Heaven will be a better place today.

Link to New York Times obituary.
Picture of Hillary, 1953, permission of Royal Geographical Society, London.