Comments

Have fun in the down under summer sun!

Need to recruit Steve for more of his marketing, et al blog expertise while you are away ...

Posted by Sean at January 9, 2006 11:56 AM

TP is probably rereading Drucker's "The Practice of Management": "the true business of every company is to make and keep customers"

Posted by Mike Linacre at January 9, 2006 12:00 PM

Tom not opening his laptop for how many days? I have a manufacturing business in the midwest I'd like to sell you if you believe that lol)!

Posted by Greg at January 9, 2006 3:29 PM

Oh Tom,
am I ever jealous. I've spent 2 of the most magical months of my life in those very mountains and fjords. Say hi to Milford Sound for me...
no better place in the World to lose the rest of the World...

Posted by Dee Rambeau at January 9, 2006 5:27 PM

Hey Tom & Susan,

Have a gr8 time in 'The land of the Kiwis'. Keep Safe.

Posted by K.Sriram at January 9, 2006 8:39 PM

Good for you folks have a nice break most of us deserves it.

Posted by Trauma at January 9, 2006 8:48 PM

I live here in New Zealand and have done a lot of the major South Island hikes - you'll both love it and the weather is pretty good at the moment too. Enjoy.

Posted by Tim Bell at January 9, 2006 10:58 PM

I begin holidays for my MBA this Thursday and am back on the 23rd, and have pledged similar promises!! The time is good though: I'm totally into (addicted?) to this virtual information sharing/knowledge propogation/ interaction and creation thing but it can be a deeply moving spiritual expeince once in a while just to sit with a pencil, an empty page (a physical one) and a pile of books and try and figure it all out manually sometimes.

I hope this is true for your holidays and you come back refreshed, renewed and reinvigorated.

Posted by Daniel M. Harrison at January 10, 2006 7:50 AM

Have a great trip!
NZ is a splendid country - great people, scenery, hiking, and the food! Great deli/cafe breakfasts and brunches (ah - the eggs benedict at Cafe on Kohi - at Kohimaramara in Auckland!). And the fish is fantastic - fish and chips in NZ is terrific, massively superior to even the best the UK has to offer.

Posted by Michael from UK at January 10, 2006 9:22 AM

Bon voyage Mr. Peters! Sure that will make you much good.

Posted by Omara at January 11, 2006 12:09 AM

While Tom's away, I have a question for y'all. Remember this from ISOE?
http://customerservicereader.typepad.com/customer_service_reader/2006/01/close_to_the_cu.html
I can't recall when it was that Tom (we're on a first name basis) changed his mind a bit. Passion for Excellence, I think, by which time he'd grown disillusioned by the failures of leadership (much as Peter Drucker did), and started talking about "pockets of excellence".
I'm trying to build a case for a bottom-up revolution in customer service, focusing on self-reliance and personal responsibility (vs dependence on "leaders"), and am hoping you can point me to articles by authors who've got more credibility than I do. Please share your references by clicking on the Comment link at the bottom of the entry, or by clicking "Contact the Lensmaster" on my Squidoo page. Thanks; Leo

Posted by Leo Romero at January 11, 2006 8:26 AM

Dear Tom and Susan:
I have never been to these alps physically but as I thought of them..this is what came to my travelling mind:

" Time is precious...
We all know;
And these mountains,
I now see;
Tell me how great life can be..
When God, in front of my very eyes;
Puts His excellent show and plus;
In special moments just like these;
My heart knows, for sure, indeed;
His eyes rest upon me;
And revives my very soul!"

Take good care and have a great time!

Sincerely,
Susie Dias

Posted by Susie Dias at January 11, 2006 12:31 PM

How refreshing it will be to look across the vast display before you and know this is only a glimpse of God's glory. WOW we serve (?) an AMAZING God. These were my sentiments during my hiking trip at Half Dome in Yosemite National Park.

Isa 40:12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

Posted by Lisa Christensen at January 12, 2006 2:58 PM

Tom - I spent four months hiking on the South Island...mindblowing scenery. Drive out to French Pass between Picton and Nelson, if you get the chance. - Andrew

Posted by Andrew at January 13, 2006 8:53 AM

Welcome home Tom!

I live in the South Island of NZ since I migrated here in 2003, and the Southern Alps are my daily scenario...You will enjoy the environment, but certainly the kiwi hospitality will be a must!

South Island of NZ is one of the secrets best kept of the world...

Greetings from Enfield, near Oamaru, three hours from Queenstown (I bet you will be around there)

Nicolas

Posted by Nicolas Erdody at January 15, 2006 2:56 AM