On the evening of October 30 in Kinshasa, Zaire, 1974, the formidable and unbeaten George Foreman took on former champion and now challenger Muhammad Ali in what is now considered the greatest heavyweight fight of all time. Now Zaire has been renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this was very much deepest, darkest Africa as described by Ali at the time.

Ali, famed for his speed and technical prowess was pitted against the raw and devastating punching power of Foreman. While Ali is famous for covering up allowing Foreman to wear himself out, he countered with straight punches to Foreman at every opportunity. They trained at the same facilities at different times, the welts Foreman left in the heavy bag rattled Ali, Foreman in his prime was a powerful puncher, you would not want to be on the receiving end of these bombs. 

Rope-a-dope, who would have thought covering up on the ropes to allow your opponent, one of the most powerful and devastating punchers in heavyweight history to wear himself out before springing into action and land a few blows yourself was a viable let alone a winning strategy. If Ali had run his strategy by me before the fight, I would have tried to talk him out of it. 

When you actually view the fight, Ali was very active early in the round before covering up. Ali timed each round perfectly, a the end of each round approached, he uncovered and moved from defensive strategy to offence landing some very quick combinations. I reckon he was at least ahead in the fight by five rounds, it would not be outrageous to have Ali ahead in all eight rounds before George found himself on the canvas.

I love scuba diving, I had a occupation that offered much freedom and I had the opportunity to work hard in bursts and then take time off. What is hard work and what are long hours? Well, I worked an 84 hour week as standard, anything after that was considered overtime.

How many years can you do that? Quite a lot actually, naturally, I had a fairly high disposable income for all those hours worked and no immediate family ties. Time off saw plenty of overseas trips to South East Asia to dive some pretty amazing places; I dived up and down Western Australia, parts of Queensland, some Pacific nations, around the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

On one of those extended breaks I had six months off and I was backpacking around Europe, I had worked my way down the Agean coast of Western Turkey and was now on the Mediterranean coast of Southern Turkey where I found myself in a small seaside hamlet of Kas. My plan was to get to the Egyptian Red Sea and undertake a divemaster course to pick up some part time work as a backpacker; I never made it past Kas and I have no complaints – this was a life changing event.

I worked one season as a divemaster, I returned the next year and they upgraded me to assistant instructor status and for the third year, they wanted me to become a full instructor – so off to a instructor course I went. I never made it back that year after all instead working a short stint in Africa in my profession and then taking a short six week holiday through parts of Europe and the United States. The cost of the course combined with the time off work placed me under a little financial duress, the stint in West Africa restored my finances so I was able to pursue a full time diving career in a major Australian capital city on my return.

So, upon returning from Africa, I was jaded with working in my profession and decided the time to act was now. I started as a contract instructor barely meeting payments, then picking up more contract work, this actually hindered my development too as availability suffered, you just can’t keep everyone happy. That is what’s required to break into an industry as an unknown but soon, if you are professional in your actions and are exposed to a broad cross-section of clients, you break in and succeed.

Ironically, to break into the market I worked seven days per week for a whole lot less money, would I do it again? Probably not, I already proved to myself I could cut it and I don’t feel the need to go back in time. That being said, I was surrounded by happy, carefree people on holiday you were undertaking an activity they enjoyed, they even paid you for the privilege. I had the time of my life and I have no regrets.

Sure, I have a big hole in my retirement plan from the years of low paid but highly enjoyable work. As a further sign of irony, while I am on a pretty decent income again yet I am forced to assign an ever increasing percentage of my income to prop up my superannuation account to live the life I lived during that period, I lost a lot of the benefits of compounding interest. Coupled with years of university study now behind me to catch up on career opportunities in the corporate world; I now embark on a master’s degree that will sap my time, energy and funds for a further two years – go figure.

I lived in southern Turkey in the early 2000s; back then, we had to get home before 1 am prior to the smoke truck made its nightly rounds. Sometimes, either affected by alcohol or a short span of memory, we would hear the truck spewing out smoke and would have to make a run for it.

Either that, or stay tucked away in bars or nightclubs, these memories were well hidden in my memory until I heard the smoke machine again in a Bali beachside resort.

Hearing the hand held smoke machine brought back memories, forgetting about the truck, the sprint home down alleyways and backstreets, fumbling to get the key in the lock and jam a towel under the door and sealing then the window with more towels.

In business parlance, leadership is currently viewed as a higher level skill than management. In every job interview I have attended, leadership is sought but poorly defined. I myself have sought to identify the essence of leadership so as to be able to articulate the correct response to the interview panel, seeking leadership abilities is to drive culture in the organisation.

Defining the essence of leadership; I believe leadership is influencing people – by providing purpose, direction and motivation. As such, leadership is described as a social influence process whereas the leader enlists the aid and support of team members in the accomplishment of a common task. What leadership isn’t is a poster with an eagle souring over mountains, this is about outcomes, this is about influence – no problems.

Sue really nails what is required from leadership; coming from a training background, learning objectives are clearly described outcomes that trainees must achieve in regards to performance, standards and conditions. All MBA outcomes are measurable, so MBA graduates are not only conversant in economics, accounting, finance, operations, decision-making, management, marketing, quantitative analysis and strategy; graduates are able to provide leadership to achieve desired outcomes.

I am not a believer in capital punishment, it is nothing more than state sanctioned murder. It is vengeful, retrospective and inefficient, nor does it deter crimes. The government does not have the right to take the lives of its citizens; a government of the people by the people does not execute the people who live within its borders, that role is usually reserved for dictators or totalitarian regimes.

Neither am I a believer in soft policing or justice practices. The execution of Chan and Sukamartren was a political decision by a weak leader attempting to impose himself on a public racked with fatal reservations of his competence. Joko Widodo had the ability to grant clemency, he instead chose political gain over fair and just judgement. Not only that, the leader of the Indonesian opposition party stated there would be no political ramifications from the granting of clemency, he chose to ignore that.

I personally believe in strict penalties; for crimes such as drug smuggling, a sentence of twenty to twenty five years is appropriate. The two organisors had served nearly half of a drug smuggling sentence as it was. I was not convinced of the so-called rehabilitation of the smugglers; yes, they appeared to be repentant. I believed that had more to do with actually being caught than anything; that is not the issue though.

The Brazilian national was only aware of his fate as he was being fastened to the firing board of which he enquired “Am I being executed?” Even though he had been extensively briefed, such was the level of his schizophrenia, he was unaware of his fate. So the Indonesian government is executing the mentally ill, similar in nature to the NAZI regime of the 1930s. Significantly, Mary Jane Veleso was spared execution just minutes from facing the firing squad as a key witness came forward under the pressure of death threats.

Mary Jane had been the victim of a human trafficking ring and has been temporarily spared to testify at the investigation. So the failures of the Indonesian justice system were minutes away from sending an innocent person to execution, if a person has been falsely imprisoned, they at least have the opportunity to walk free after a judicial review – that can’t happen after an execution.

The double standards of Indonesia seeking clemency for its citizens on death row overseas whilst executing foreigners smacks of political arrogance. Every aspect of this execution was stage managed for political gain, Joko Widodo is a spineless leader with no authority of a morally corrupt nation; the systemic corruption encroaching on the daily lives of Indonesian nationals is absurd. The transfer of prisoners from prison to execution island was carefully stage managed for maximum effect – this was overkill. Likewise, the treatment of the families of the executed was disgraceful, this third world nation seeking an audience on the world stage is shambolic and barbaric.

One has to remember, this is a nation supporting terrorism, the same nation that frees convicted terrorists. This pair were not the masterminds of the operation, this pair was the enforcers for the masterminds, these guys were the organisers. The Australian syndicate has never been brought to justice; likewise, the Thai prostitute who smuggled the drugs from Thailand to Indonesia escaped. So the supply chain is still intact – nothing has been properly investigated and the international drug syndicate remains operational.

Had the two governments worked together, the Indonesians would have monitored the Bali 9 through customs and allowed the Australians to follow the team through immigration with surveillance through to the syndicate running the operation with the Indonesians following up the supply end through Thailand. The Australian/Indonesian authorities then announce the joint cooperation program ushering in the new era in Australian/Indonesian policing; instead we had the Indonesians eager to make a bust of seven low-level drug mules and two mid-level organisers/enforcers with the trust and cooperation between these two organisations in tatters.

Do the people running these organisations have no strategic sense at all, do they only hold short-term thinking capabilities? They totally blew a prime opportunity to smash a international drugs syndicate, cement a joint working partnership and forge closer ties to combat terrorism, the Indonesians have proved themselves to be totally incompetent.

The USS Illinois was the fifth of the six Iowa class battleships ordered for the US Navy in World War II. As with the USS Kentucky, the ship was cancelled before construction was complete due to the Japanese surrender. Had the atomic bomb not been deployed, it was envisioned an invasion of mainland Japan required naval bombardment for the proposed marine landings and fighting well into 1947 and possibly 1948.

Originally designated to be the first of the Montana class battleships, BB-65 was reordered as an Iowa class battleship due to concerns of navigation of the Panama Canal before construction began. The shift in naval doctrine to air supremacy saw the aircraft carrier given preference over the battleship with the South Dakota class battleships throughout the war.

Working with a manager in title lacking any definitive verbal or written communication skills, I ask myself “what fool promoted this guy?” When you work in an organisation that engages in crony selection, well, no real selection process really, then you can see why.

An incompetent manager reflects poorly on the whole organisation, they can’t respond with the old line of not having enough competent personnel, it is really an old boy’s club despite the fact it is dominated by women. Internally, the term is the purple circle, it is unfortunately true for an organisation that is performing so poorly. Leadership is sought at middle to upper management levels; yet at many organisations leadership is so sadly lacking that the term leadership is met with howls of laughter and derision.

I had the recent situation where the boat dropped the dive guide and myself in the water continuing on to a nearby island to drop the passengers off before returning to pick us up at the end of the dive. Whilst it didn’t concern me at the time, I did think this was a somewhat unusual diving practice and prone to both abuse and possibly tragic outcomes.

The boat had at least a 20 minute steam to the island, the time taken unloading of passengers and return trip to our position. We were going to be an hour underwater, the current was mild but a storm was approaching. This was my second day diving with this resort so they had seen me dive previously, they knew I was comfortable underwater and was an experienced diver.

Had the vessel broken down, our dive ended abruptly, a passenger has an issue or accident or they were detained on the island for any reason – we may have had an issue. The vessel had a number of engine issues so that may have contributed to a delayed return, the engine broke down on the first day and was very noisy in the valve train.

My questions are related to what if; I am mid-40s, reasonably fit but well down on my personal standards, I have a number of medical issues but currently free of any real (or at least serious) medical problems. They, of course know none of this as they never asked me, so this tends to indicate this is normal practice and this could be a real problem.

A panic, a sting, bite or medical problem on the surface or underwater could have ended in devastating circumstances. Likewise, a stronger than anticipated current could have swept us well away from the site and pick up zone. This is poor practice and one feels this operation is an accident waiting to happen, was it just me or is this normal practice?

Once upon a time, everyone who went on holiday went down their local bank to pre-order their travellers cheques, no need to bother with this archaic ritual anymore. 

These days you can just pay by credit card nearly everywhere you go, you can also go to just about every automatic teller machine and withdraw local currency. No longer are you at the mercy of local merchants and dodgy exchange rates and commissions, nor do you need to worry about losing your travellers cheques. There is naturally the issue of losing your credit card or even credit card fraud or having your credit suspended, regardless, getting credit card fraud sorted out these days is relatively simple. I\’ve ditched the travellers cheques in favour of electronic banking.

My favourite bar in Manila is Cafe Havana in the Greenbelt 3 entertainment complex. I travel to the Philippines on a fairly regular basis; such is my love of the scuba diving this wonderful country offers.

I depart Perth at 1.10 am on a Friday morning for Singapore, arriving about 6.30 am, I have my connection to Manila at 12.15 pm and arrive at about 3.30 pm – it’s always the same flights so I know the routine well. But the time I travel to my hotel after clearing immigration and the horrible Manila traffic – it’s Friday evening and I’m ready for some fun.

On a Friday and Sunday night, a long running band playing an entertaining mix of Cuban and salsa music – this is really a great evening out. I just love the set list, the Salsa and Latino sounds are great Friday night entertainment although I must admit, I can’t recall hanging out too many times on a Sunday night. I have walked past plenty of times though and just listen to the band play, yet I can’t remember their name.

I generally travel to the Philippines three times a year for two weeks at a time, that accounts for three attendances at Cafe Havana on a Friday night per trip and nine happy experiences per year, that’s more boozy outlandish Friday nights that I can care to remember for the decade I have been diving and holidaying in the Philippines.