email john@johncook.co.nz

 

• Do you want short term quick fixes or long term gain for the ward ?

• Do you want a focus for the future for the benefit of a few or for us all ?

• Do you want someone to challenge the thinking on your behalf ?

If you want long term gain ,Focus for the future with a benefit for us all and someone challenging the thinking John Cook is here to help you.

 

Your vote for John Cook is most appreciated

Top 5 Issues

1. What is the best way to use the ratepayers money collected so it is spent on long term gain for the ward ?
   The decisions here are maximising spend over long term not just for short term gain for a few.
   And making sure robust challenging discussion takes place to ensure the best possible option is taken for the long term future.
2. How to improve our lives by minimsing traffic delays?
   Most traffic delays are occuring as we reach the borders of our ward.People are wasting precious time as they wait to enter the main arterial routes like the Southern Motorway.This is backing traffic back up into the ward and clogging up the streets for residents nearby.
3. Why travel so far to work ?
   Being a mostly residential suburb many residents travel at peak hours to get to their place of work.There would be many less cars on the road if the right opportunities for work in the new knowledge economy were placed nearby.
4. How many of you have seen either your children or friends of yours leave and move overseas ?
   To keep valuable people here we need to make sure our ward is an attractive urban area to live in with a range of excellent facilities and within close proximity to modern knowledge intensive industries .
5. What do you find most attractive about living in the ward?
   People choose to livehere for a variety of reasons.Maintaining character and enhacing the positions of suburbs and the ward are important .Each suburb maximising its strengths to full potential as a suburb.Some rely on their beaches like Kohi andSt heliers with its village atmosphere while others are communities for education etc etc.

Personal Profile

Ethnic Representation...

Aucklanders are a blend of different cultures.I am a typical example.On my mothers side 4th generation New Zealander and 1/16 Maori.My father arrived from Holland in 1953.Most Aucklanders are a blend of nationalities.

Global experience ....

Since the age of 17  have lived for more than 2 years in the following cities of the world.Auckland,Palmerston North,Blenheim,Christchurch,Wellington,Paris,Cape Town.Having travelled extensively with business and sport i have a global understanding of how other cities operate and what mistakes they made.

  Getting results…

When your first job is helping your father, a bricklayer, labouring on building sites around Auckland in the school holidays, getting your hands dirty and learning about the life of a tradesman – you quickly know what it can be like to get up early and work long hard hours to put dinner on the table! At Mt Albert Grammar school being a year younger than the other classmates because my quick thinking and general math’s skills were well ahead of my age group,was challenging.

Around about the age of 13 a passion for the highly competitive sport of rowing developed, which needed extreme aerobic fitness, excellent technique and complete dedication to get up to the top level. So, I’m used to getting results and that’s what we’ll get working together - results.

Creative  Solutions…

Having a Degree in Agricultural science specializing in consulting and management which I combined with postgraduate studies in business and marketing - not to mention qualifications in option trading,real estate and auctioneering give me a balanced viewpoint. While working for MAF liaising with businesses to improve their productivity, quality and profitability, I enjoyed getting to work with Burton Shipley (his wife later became Prime Minister) on an innovative project, where we managed to a great return, from a piece of Canterbury sheep farm. This shows the results we can get when we put creative business solutions - you probably haven’t even dreamed of yet - in place.

It’s All About Winning…

Having competed against international gold medalists, and coached a leading boys school, allowing me to “jet set” between NZ and Europe. Whilst based in Paris I competed against - and became good friends with - British rowing great Sir Steven Redgrave, who won 5 consecutive Olympic gold medals. At a very young age exposure to the visualization and focusing strategies being used with the East European countries, along with their intensive planning, training and coaching techniques was eye opening. Coaching and competing allowed me to work with people achieving international success. So I don’t just talk the talk.

Global Thinking…

The leading Dutch company (IMCD) who are comparable to Shell, Philips and KLM in a global multinational context, installed me as their National Division Manager (South Africa) and from that experience learnt all about large corporate structures with budgeting, reporting and systems - while dealing with many varied cultures and nationalities. Using a corporate approach to systemizing a business means you can get effective systems put in place in your business quickly and easily.
Following on from this was developed my own consultancy and trading business operating across the chemicals, FMCG, industrial plastics, packaging and equipment sectors. Being self employed allowed me to use smart guerrilla marketing tactics . Now no longer one of the big fish in the market, meant learning how to get great results for minimum a spend.

Business Creation…

Using a unique financing structure – whilst working in my trading consultancy - I managed to grow my SA property portfolio from 1 apartment to 4 properties containing 4 houses and 6 flats in just 4 years! Not every deal was a fantastic one.Lets face it we arent all built absolutely perfect .But for many Aucklanders property has been there prime investment or their main spend in rentals and they are very concerned that council spends wisely on infrastructure to build a better local ward . I can work with you to make sure the rates you pay are going to benefit the future of all our future generations
Right Now…

Having been drawn back to New Zealand in 2008 with my wife and twin 2 year old boys, my passion is working and collaborating with others. Focused on implementing practical strategies, achieving measurable results, and helping get the best possible outcome for everyone in win-win solutions.

Your vote for John Cook is most appreciated