Editor’s Letter – Winter 2024

I always labour over these notes and I write them last, much to the annoyance of the design team. I don’t know why. It’s a simple enough task; sell the tease of the magazine’s content, sum up a few key takeaways that might elevate this issue above others beside it on the shelf, while weaving in a personal anecdote or two. I can spout personal anecdotes all day long. I can probably share a personal anecdote about personal anecdotes. It’s the summing up I have trouble with.

I was listening to the keynote presentations from the latest Journey to Excellence and I wrote down enough notes to fill one of those little Moleskin notebooks that were all the rage a few years ago. Reciting all of my takeaways does no good for anyone. It also seems kind of trite to sum up the 30-career journey of someone like June McCabe and her foray to the highest levels of New Zealand business. Or someone like Hannah McQueen who not only worked with Auckland University to design her own calculus formula in order to pay off her mortgage faster and since then has gone on to help over 15,000 clients get a handle on their finances. Or someone like Kristen Lunman who helped pioneer access to international share investments for New Zealanders and is now helping to drive a powerhouse of women leaders. Or someone like Laurent Silvestre who after his own incredible personal and business journey is helping to reshape what leadership is.

I mean, where do I begin? I think also, that these inspiring stories are a part of the DNA of M2woman and what I enjoy covering the most. But they are so different. And that’s kind of the beauty of it. Different people will find different nuggets in different aspects of different stories at different times depending on what situation you find yourself in – the hurdles, failures or successes, and wins. And it is important to cover the failures as well as the successes because that is reality. If I had to sum it up, I’m pretty sure that regardless of where you are in life, whatever the hurdles you are facing or the goals you are driving towards, you will find inspiration in this issue.

I also checked in case you had started wondering where to buy a Moleskin notebook from. Smith & Caughey’s has a decent range of sizes and colours including the classic black hard-cover pocket ruled notebook. Grab one of those and a pair of Trumans & Knuefermann Ankle Boots from Knueferman, and you will be able to extract insights from the universe like a modern-day existentialist warrior – that’s my personal theory anyway.