Grant Jackson

Ireland population 5 million NZ population 5 million. Today. Ireland GDP per capital 100,000 USD NZ GDP per capita 48,000 USD. in 1980 NZ GDP was higher than Irelands. in 1990 it was equal. Ever since Ireland has stormed ahead. Productivity per capita improves everyone’s living standards. Ireland figured that out. What changed - Ireland had mass economic reform in the 80’s liberalising their economy. They got a gov with ambition and vision. They reduced trade barriers, corp tax’s, created a business friendly environment - encouraged foreign investment and created incentives for it. They put a huge focus on education and high standards but just as importantly streamlined their economy training people with technical and IT skills and then focusing on technology and innovation industries ( software/ finance / pharmaceuticals / medical devices etc etc ) - they positioned themselves as a technology hub and lined their education system up to support that creating skills to match the modern economy. NZ will continue to go backwards until we have a bigger vision. Plenty of countries have transformed before us we only need to take their lessons and replicate them here with our own NZ take.

Business, Sport and Government. The principles of success are all the same. If NZ was a company or a stock our share price would be at an all time low. If we were a sports team we would be bottom of the ladder. Isn’t it amazing the difference leadership and a culture of improvement and getting things done has. Just look at the Warriors. Get the right leader in place. Set the right culture. Recruit the right talent. Ensure the talent is clear on their roles. Drive constant improvement. Judge results. The formula never changes. The Government needs strong focus on its priorities as at best it has a small amount of talent. That talent cannot be spread so thin. The Government should be the referee in most areas. However where it is a player on the field it should put disproportionate focus on being the best in those areas with a culture set around continuous improvement and tracking that improvement. ( health / infrastructure/ crime/ education/ welfare ) Everything around the edges it should aim to be the referee on the field. Great example when you try and be the player you end up with 600 million dollars of expired RATs. Thats HALF the entire Pharmac budget for the year. Unsurprisingly only one of hundreds of examples. Over and over again when you don’t have the talent or incentive you take your eye of the focus’s and everything becomes a mess falling backwards. The share magnitude of the miss management if you add it all up is staggering. Time to get the right Leadership. The right talent. The right culture. The right priorities. Results will follow. Just like the Warriors. let’s get NZ winning again.