Ngahihi Bidois: Seeds of ideas can lead to life changes

As spring is here, it's a good time to reflect on seeds that have been sown in the gardens of our lives by people who cared.

The season of spring is here and coincidentally a couple of interesting things occurred for me last weekend.

These two occurrences made me realise that small beginnings have led to significant life changes and I am sure that if you reflect on your life that you will see a similar pattern emerge.

On Sunday morning I did a leadership keynote presentation to the New Zealand Kindergarten leadership team of around 150 outstanding and committed leaders.

During their conference in Wellington I was approached by several people who informed me that they had attended the International Early Childhood conference held here in Rotorua in September 2007 where I was the master of ceremonies for their five-day event.

Their conversations reminded me that their early childhood convention was my very first professional speaker/master of ceremonies engagement and, therefore, the start of my professional speaking career.

It was where the first seeds of spring were planted for a new career and I could not have picked a better group of people to start with. We had a lot of fun.

For example, there were about 1400 delegates and you would be lucky if 100 were men. I had to go to the toilet for a quick pee at the end of one lunch break and when I rushed into the toilet it was full of women.

I remember saying to myself, "Oh no you have blown this one, buddy, your first time as an MC and you have rushed into the ladies' toilet. Everyone is going to hear about this. You are toast."

However, as I turned around to beat a hasty retreat, I noticed the urinals and then the startled looks on the women's faces.

There was a lengthy silence before one of them whispered, "Sorry Ngahi, but we have taken over this men's toilet. There's another one down the other end." It was 1300 women versus 100 men - who was I to argue.

The 2007 Early Childhood convention in Rotorua was also the start of my international career. I had presented a couple of leadership workshops and as I was leaving the second one a lady named Ellen Wallace approached me and said, "Excuse me, Ngahi, but I don't suppose you would be willing to come and do some work in England would you?"

That led to three world trips in the first four years and international travel as an international leadership speaker ever since.

The second meeting occurred on Sunday evening when my Dad introduced me to a man named Sandy whom he used to work with at Lockwoods construction many moons ago.

Later discussions with my father reminded me that when I was a young lad Sandy had taken me to my first stockcar meeting at the Forest Lake speedway in the Waikato. I can still remember the huge track with its sweeping bends and a driver named Barry Featherston in 99H. That meeting laid a firm foundation for my interest in stockcars and I enjoy speedway to this day.

So I went back to thank Sandy for taking me and let him know that speedway probably contributed to me staying on the straight and narrow because when all my mates were dressing up to go to pubs, I was dressing down to go to speedway.

As spring is here, I think it is a good time to reflect on seeds that have been sown in the gardens of our lives by people who cared. A small acorn creates the huge oak tree and I am sure that we have the ability to help many others around us through a smile, a kind word or even a road trip.

Ahakoa he iti, he pounamu (Although it is small, it is greenstone).

• Ngahihi o te ra Bidois is an international leadership speaker, VIP host, author, leader, husband and father. See www.ngahibidois.com for more of his story.