Her Magazine

Her Magazine April/May 2013

Her Magazine is New Zealand’s only women’s business lifestyle magazine! Her Magazine highlights the achievements of successful and rising New Zealand businesswomen. Her Magazine encourages a healthy work/life balance.

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:the pigeon hole effect The Pigeon hole effect Subconsciously we pigeon hole all day and every day Isn't funny how we all like to pigeon hole everything. People, animals, objects... It seems that if we can slot someone or something into a neat descriptive air tight box then we know just what it means to us, thus offering ourselves a sense of comfort as we are more likely to know how to best manage just what it is we are about to confront. Take wine for example. When recommending a wine, people will not just say it is great, buy a box and get stuck in; they will reference it against other wines you may know. "Ohit's got the characteristics of a classic Otago Pinot darling!" "It's a new age Chardonnay but with some top note oak rippling across your pallet!" 58 | www.h e rmagaz i n e . c o. n z Subconsciously we pigeon hole all day and every day. However, it is on the road that we practise our pigeon management at its highest level. Have you not noticed just how quickly we categorize the driver of a car even before we are within 500 metres of them? Top of our fastest to pigeon hole list would have to be Boy Racer, Stupid Tourist and Auckland Idiot. There can be no doubt that these and quite a few other generalised groupings deserve their pigeon hole in a nanosecond title. However, there are a few others though that do spring to mind that I think we have got all wrong. Of course it goes without saying that the 'Woman Driver' pigeon hole is incorrectly tagged by 50% of the population every moment of every day. One category we have all got wrong is the 'Old Man' driver. You know the category well don't you? - Gold coloured Honda with lawn bowls hat in the back window, travelling at 47km an hour through suburbia with you inches behind his bumper asking serious question of his birthright! But beware! The gold Honda aside, there is actually a new sub-culture of old men out there who are demons on four (or two) wheels. These 'New Old Men' (NOM's) have money, new cars and an attitude. They are old enough to know the law well and obey it, driving with courtesy and full respect of other motorists, but, and it's a BIG BUT, given a clear stretch of road and a wee bit of provocation these old boys just love to

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