By: Mike Hosking | Friday, July 20, 2012 7:46 AM

A nod this morning to Owen Glenn, who we talked to on Wednesday.

A man who’s proven to be one of, if not the most, inspirational people of the week.

His autobiography is out, and my simple approach to such matters is if you’ve made billions, your story’s bound to have something in it by way of a lesson.

And that along with Graham Henry’s book, has given me a larger than normal, but nevertheless solid, bit of reading to get through.

I might also recommend Clive James’ latest book, but I’ll do that another day for fear of turning this into a pointy-headed literary outlet worthy of New Zealand On Air funding, and a slot on TVNZ7.

Yes I know TVNZ7 is over, but you get my point.

Owen Glenn fascinates me. He’s almost got this philanthropic superhero thing where he’s come out of nowhere to toss money at programmes and problems and league teams. I mean, why now? We’d never heard of him until a couple of years ago.

Proving beyond any shadow of a doubt that you can be a Kiwi, make a fortune, and keep it awfully quiet. Winston solved that – Monte Carlo and a great big sign saying ‘no’.

And that was that, hello Owen Glenn.

In the ensuing period, Glenn slowly but surely distributed a bit here, a bit there. And he’s now a household name – and a doer for good.

I like the balance of care and show. He gives of the University of Auckland the most spectacular building, but sticks his name on the side. Good on him. It could have been worse – it could have been a statue.

He gets the World Hockey Championships here. He buys a chunk of the Warriors. But this week - domestic violence. And in explaining that to us on the show, he drops in bits and pieces of the other work he’s done. All over the planet, working with kids in appalling situations. By his own admission, not exactly changing the world, given so much of the world is such a rotten place, but he’s at least making a dent.

Stuff I wasn’t aware of, stuff he wasn’t parading about the place like a CV of good will. But $8 million for Otara, $15 million for a Commission of Inquiry. Although to be frank, I think his money’s safe – the Government response wasn’t exactly gushing. But potentially tens of millions on an issue that isn’t exactly glamorous.

Doesn’t promise any easy, fast, obvious, positive results. An issue that had been debated and haw boned for years to little effect. So not a headline cause, not a cause generally for the ‘glitterati’ and the ‘lovies’.

Which makes Glenn’s part all the more courageous and kind and, dare I suggest, effective. When you make your own money, instead of Dad giving it to you or from the Lotteries Commission, you tend to know the value of it. And you tend to know how to make it work and stretch. So when Owen Glenn says his first report on progress is out in October, I’m betting he’ll have actually got something done.

Photo: Owen Glenn (Photosport)