A Vision of a New New Zealand
Listening to: Price Of Gasoline (Automato Remix) - Bloc Party
Rod Oram’s article in the paper this morning was a real breath of fresh air… it’s great to have some one write about the opportunity that is there for the taking AND provide an idea of how to get there:
While we face decades of endeavour to achieve these towering goals, none of it will happen unless we significantly change our view of the world in six significant ways.
Realism: We need to be far more realistic about the opportunities for us in the world, about how hard but do-able the challenges are, and about the serious consequences for not taking up these challenges.
Ambition: We need to be far more ambitious in the goals we set ourselves and in the standards we demand of one another. We have to be absolutely world class in all we do.
Environment: We need to have real commitment to the environment. Our lip service gives us air, land and water unconscionably polluted for a country so thinly populated. Our clean green image is a myth waiting to be exposed.
Sustainability:We need to build a sustainable country, not just in the environmental sense but also in terms of economic, social and cultural values. Only if our businesses, our communities and our cultures work hand in hand in enduring ways will we realise our extensive, distinctive potential.
Commonality: We need commonality of purpose across all cultures and communities. This does not mean some grand, national strategy, rather that we acknowledge each other’s aspirations yet find common ground on which we can build together a new New Zealand. Moreover, our cultures serve us poorly when we try to resolve conflict within and between communities. Business and politics are particularly prone to letting unresolved tensions build within organisations until they wreak havoc on the people and institutions.
Leadership:We need a new kind of leadership. New Zealanders have tended to respond best to dominant individuals. But two dangers arise -of us being led astray and of our lack of commitment to their grand plans. Better would be leadership that springs naturally from within each small group, business, industry, family, community or culture.
