Shane Jones' tikanga for getting ahead

People come first, in both Maori and Pakeha worlds. "Life is about people and you have got to accept how you treat people is how you will be treated."

Find the value in others. "You need to respect the value in other people. You may actually think their ideas - as I consistently do - bizarre, and a threat, but if you want to get ahead, you've got to acknowledge the value in other people, and you've got to be able to build a coalition with other people". Know and accept who you are. One's sense of identity "is a key influence - it's a marker and a beacon; it shows the way". Understand that "Maori culture, Maori language and Maori pride plays an intensely critical role, more so than in other sets of commercial negotiations. It's not simply about assets or a natural resource, it's about negotiating identity".

Keep on trying. "Persistence is a great virtue, but don't be stubborn. Stubbornness and intransigence will only end in humiliation."

Consult wisely, not widely. "I've always had a tiny group of people, irrespective of what I've been involved in, that I've been able to take counsel from. Some are family, not all are Maori. And I have no difficulty following advice or being challenged or corrected by people who are more adept in their fields than I am."

Don't succumb to alcohol or drug abuse. "That is a massive destructive force ... the inability to deal with alcohol and drugs in a moderate form or an honest form."

Jones still feels acute shame for the time, as a drunk university student, he tried to perform a mihi out of context, which earned instant disapproval from those around him.

"It bitterly disappointed people ... I learnt a very bitter and embarrassing lesson that I have never ever forgotten."