Kunal Kumar Photo - Second Quarter 2026

Second Quarter 2026

April to June 2026

I had left the blog last time at the end of March, we had just finished up all of our North Island training into what was supposed to be a “rest week”. In reality it is a prep week for the coming weeks, we are given messaging to take it easy as much as we can, though as we know it doesn’t always work like that.

I had been allocated the Manawatu-Whanganui region as my region to support go-live. And my time would almost be evenly shared between the cities of Palmerston North and Whanganui. For me much of my scheduling would mean I would fly in on the Sunday afternoon, most weeks driving to Whanganui, and then mid-week driving back to Palmerston North to finish the week. The first week feels like a bit of controlled chaos, there is a mix of anxiety, nervousness and excitement, from both myself and our business. For me it takes a few weeks to get into a rhythm of things, more in getting to know the team and getting into the travel routine. But I’m loving working with the team, the people are awesome and for me that is such an important thing to make that connection.

Night sky awesomeness in the Whanganui

Recently one of my work colleagues forwarded for me the following article:

https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/06/22/why-the-new-workplace-stars-are-a-very-different-breed-and-how-to-be-one/

One of the key takeaways for me is: “Learn to influence without authority – Build trust, credibility, and persuasion skills, not just directives.”

It’s a really interesting article on HQ - Human Intelligence, or soft skills in old money. This is the ability to connect with each other, it’s not just about how much you know, but how you can convey it to people. I’m certainly not an expert in this, but I’m always wanting to improve in this area. The quote above, so important to me, about influencing without forcing or demanding, but giving people the gift of knowledge, to arm themselves with the tools that they will need to tackle scenarios as they come up.

As the weeks go by, I think about the concept of connecting the dots - looking backwards. There is this famous Stanford commencement speech by Steve Jobs. I highly recommend everybody to watch this, and whenever I feel I’m losing some hope, it’s my go-to. He mentions that things happen for a reason and you can only connect the dots looking backwards. He talks about when he took calligraphy class when he was in University, he didn’t know what use that would be to him. Years later when he designed the software for the Macintosh, all those calligraphy skills came back to use and that’s what we all see in our modern day computers now.

Sunset with a view of Mt Taranaki

Well into winter

So, what does that have to do with connecting the dots? On one of my trips back from Palmy to Auckland, my flight was delayed. It was not the first time, but just another annoying flight delay, but was it? More than an hour later, we are boarding the plane. It just happens to be close to sunset and I know I will arrive back home late at night. But this happened to be the best flight I had, I was seated on the west side of the plane, the sun was setting, I wondered what the weather would be like, I wondered whether I would see the mystical mountain - Taranaki. In every flight I’ve had so far I hadn’t seen it. But this evening was just perfect, the sun was setting, golden hour had hit, the sky was lighting up, there was mist in the foreground but not enough to block the mountain - yasss! There it was - this scene was incredibly stunning, and I’m incredibly grateful for this delay. Things happen for a reason, and I’ve been trying to connect the dots - and why things happen the way they do.

Anyways, after 4 weeks, and our first month ends, I get a week at “home”. Why the speechmarks, my home that I moved in a couple weeks ago! Yes, in the middle of a system implementation I would decide I would move houses. It all kicked off with a mortgage re-finance, which led me to think I need to move out of my place which is way too big and maintain a place I’m not there 85% of the time. So for a 3 week period, I had been travelling for work to Palmy, spending the one day on the weekends to pack, finding myself a new place, and spending the random night at my brothers - I’m very grateful for this.

Full moon rise, always such a cool sight

Another thing that led me to this change was another announcement - our allocation for the Aussie rollout coming up. And it was confirmed that I would be going to Perth! Wow! This was going to be exciting at the same time of course would involve a lot of travelling and a lot of time being away. All of these factors led me to make a decision to move houses. This is yet another good thing that happened to me - the act of throwing things out, useless things that I haven’t used, looked at or needed in the future. The satisfaction of binning things. I remember I made 2 rounds to refuse station to dump out items - such a great feeling to throw things out. Minimal living anyone?

Anyhow it’s my first week in my new place, I’m still setting things up, at the same time the couch is calling me. For the first time in Auckland history - it is actually decent weather. I’m wanting to get back into some routine, I decide I will run every morning at sunrise - it’s amazing, I get some of the best sunrises I’ve seen all year, and at the same time I get to explore my new neighbourhood, checking out the flash houses on the coast - wow! Finding hidden paths, joining streets - I love doing this. This is something I learned from my friend Ad - he really teached me to explore driveways and pathways and everything in between! The week is amazing: I do 5 days in a row - sunrise runs, yes there is some rain but mostly there is amazing colour and light. I remind myself how much I love this, how many early trips to work, I’ve had to sit in the car to watch the sun rise over the Ruahine Ranges when I’m back in Palmy. It makes you appreciate things, simple and small things.

Longview Hut - what an awesome view

The week is amazing productively, I’ve been given a chance to work on and create a script for a new video for our upcoming training in Aussie. It’s a massive privilege for me, for someone who’s only used this system for 2 years to be given a chance at doing a “fundamentals” course on the system. It is something that I pride myself on - no matter the system or process, I’ve always believed in being adaptable to what is given in front of you, for me this is the financial system, or as we call them in the industry - ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems. When I first signed this contract, I was nervous and anxious - what is this system, I’d heard of it, but never used or sighted it. But that was also an exciting challenge for me and see where I could go with this. And two years on, to be doing this, I’m happily content. It is also an indication for me where to go from here. Both the project and the contract will be ending soon, and it will be a chance to reset.

As the weeks roll by and our support nears an end. I decided to do a weekend in the Manawatu region. I’ve been wanting to head back to the Ruahine Ranges. These are mountains I’ve been seeing everyday, some amazing sunrises, and my last time there was a hike up to Sunrise Hut! There are many trails to explore there, I did some research and decided to do the Longview hut trail. It’s short enough to do in a day with some epic views. I absolutely love it, it is exactly what I need and need to do more often.

Beautiful soft light jog out in the Whanganui

A couple weeks later I was asked to photograph a running event up in Whangarei, Kings weekend - the event is Kings backyard. A few of my friends will be there, and one of my friends achieved a massive milestone of over 30 hours / 200km of running. And by doing this qualifies for the Lithuanian national team, where she hails from. It’s a wonderful weekend, one of the things that has been highlighted to me is the idea of resilience, the work ethic, dedication that is required - I’ve been able to witness first hand. It took me back a few years when I paced my friend Ryan for his 100 mile race in Rotorua. I spent the best part of 12 hours / 60km with him, the determination, the resilience it took to finish that. It really makes you realise that you can get through tough times. Another friend of mine will tackle 100 miles in July - excited to be there for that one as well.

The end of our support period is coming up, just over 2 months, nearly 10 weeks. The seasons have changed, we are now in the middle of winter and closing in on the winter solstice. I messaged Ad - my friend that I will be back home soon, and be able to attend the next Wednesday night pub run. We decide we’ll do it at Riverhead Forest, and since it's days before the solstice, this would become our traditional winter solstice run. The turnout is amazing, I get to see many of my friends I haven’t seen in a long time. We have the most awesome night out in the forest, then a dinner at the pub. It’s probably one of the most wholesome things I’ve done in months. Another thing I need to do more!

Manawatu River, at sunset

Another evening jog in Palmy

I had also become infatuated with this story about KPMG Australia and claims of misconduct behaviour by their audit team. Having watched both live streams of senate hearings in Australia. The case involves improper access, breach of confidentiality of important documents etc, in plain english - just real poor professional behaviour. This behaviour was reported by an employee (the whistleblower), who was quickly quietened, dealt with and exited from the firm. This whistleblower had no success raising his concerns up the management ladder, with no avail, he ended up going to the Australian government to finally expose what had been going on. Why am I so interested in this story?! I used to work for KPMG New Zealand, and a large part of my working career has been spent working for Professional Services firms both in the Accounting and Law industries.

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/macquarie-westpac-testify-kpmg-australia-audit-scandal-probe-2026-08-13/

Like most of the public, I’m shocked at what is playing out currently, but I’m not surprised. In the latest hearing a lot of questions revolve around the culture of these firms, a culture that is driven by $$ money! Anything to win work, make the big bucks, earn the prestige for multi million dollar deals. With what costs though? Ethics, ethical behaviour. I remember seeing a lot of these behavioral traits in my life working at firms. They all stem from the top who are all driven by money and power. The Senators in the parliament hearing bring up why this behaviour is so prevalent amongst top execs in the professional services industry, bringing up the wrongdoings of PWC just a couple of years before. The execs are questioned continually over the culture of the industry, but like Pavlov’s dogs they are so conditioned to this behaviour they don’t know they have done anything wrong. Most people in the industry are “lifers”, usually spending 30+ years in the same company if not in the same industry, from Graduate level to Partnership. This is all they know. For people outside this world, it’s unbelievable, and so obvious what harm and wrong is being done. But when you’re in it, you’re simply just unaware. I remember when I left the first firm I worked for after 10 years, some of the cultural issues existed, but I was never aware of when I was in it. One of the famous quotes from the hearings is “you can’t regulate culture”

Back home for a sunset

And I’ve seen this happen as well, box ticking exercises, fluffy wellbeing schemes, surveys that are not read by anybody. Companies which try to “build” culture through regulation or meet some three letter HR standard ratings, “we are 4 star ABC verified company” because we ticked those boxes, set up a dead wellbeing club and made sure we sent the annual HR survey! Culture has to be naturally built or occur. I have worked in effective teams where this has happened, real high performing teams with none of the fluff from above. Anyways, that’s the end of my side rant. It's been an interesting thing to watch this play in the media, I can relate to this so much, and at the same I’m so glad my days working in that industry are over.

For me now the Australian rollout phase begins, and new challenges lie ahead, onwards and upwards.