Travis O’Keefe (born March 16, 1971)
My blogs
| Gender | Male |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Location | Auckland, New Zealand |
| Introduction | is a New Zealand innovation award winner, social entrepreneur and holds a number of company directorships. He has gained success through a variety of ventures, encompassing education, ethnic communications, and international distribution of technology. Travis dropped out of high school, saying a system that measured memory rather than critical thinking and application of knowledge did not work for him. He gained a non-traditional education consisting of mentoring from several of New Zealand’s finest business leaders and learning from a number of the best minds on the planet, including lessons from Peter Drucker, Al Reis, Jack Trout, Richard Branson, Jim Collins, Dale Carnegie, Anthony Robbins, and Jack Welch. Travis was born into poverty in Cannons Creek, Wellington. He experienced considerable hardship during his childhood, including living in an overcrowded house with a couch as a bed, in a benefit-dependant family, having to grow their own food as a result of poverty, and surrounded by a multitude of other social ills. These experiences taught him to be self sufficient through hard work and are why he is motivated to help others. |
| Interests | Social change. Travis believes that the successful solving of social ills is fundamental to the New Zealand nation as they create an economic burden that affects all New Zealanders in some way. Reducing this requires transformational innovation. Current systems are largely designed to deliver incremental improvements, but in many areas we need dramatic improvements that require breakthrough ideas. The development and implementation of radical ideas involves a level of risk that goes beyond the traditional mandate of most New Zealand public institutions. He says “What is required are individuals that can execute. People forget that anyone can have a good idea but very few can execute a sustainable solution. Those skills and personal strengths are dominant in entrepreneurs but most prefer to apply those skills into areas, other than solving society’s problems, as the financial return on effort is far superior. At some stage you have to ask yourself what is life really about, and understand your true purpose on this earth, then commit to it.” |
| Favorite music | I like it all. To me Music can be used to conjure and convey emotions |
| Favorite books | I love learning about anything and everything, it is one of my passions. I devour alot of books, magazines, newspapers, blogs, web feeds etc |