@ Tony S #94 -- You are totally right Tony. Here in the US we have some who take far too much, who needs a $100,000,000 a year income?? It is so far beyond obscene.

Normal income levels though are one way to gauge productivity. The productivity of a culture is varied. For instance, one set creates new wealth through exports, another group makes the country a better place locally. These are complimentary things not at odds with each other. Both should be valued and encouraged.

We run our health services, schools etc using taxes and charity. For instance, using your reasoning you would think that the government bailing out ACC, by raising car registration was in effect creating wealth. Probably it is for those who directly run the services that profit from acc. In realty you cannot create wealth out of nothing; you will always end up robbing peter to pay Paul

The only initiative the government has come up with to inject new money into the economy is to again import it with new immigrants i.e. buy your way in. One of the recognisable flow effects from this, is that house prices rise in an uncontrolled and unsustainable way. Effectively producing another economic bubble that will burst as foreign owned banks ship the money these people bring in’ off shore and then proceed to lend it out in high risk, government legitimised lending schemes

There are significant differences between the way that organisations (of all sizes, in all sectors, in all industries) here are managed, and the way they are overseas. These differences are somewhat helpful, but moreso harmful. They are starkly noticeable to migrants and repatriated Kiwis, who have management qualifications and/or experiences in other countries.

The numbers speak for themselves: Our balance of trade deficits for the last 5 decades have been in the danger zone. Our per-capita productivity is 30% below Australia, the USA, etc. Our wages are low, our unpaid overtime is high, and our brightest are migrating away at harmful levels. ~41% of the NZX share value, and ~40% of all New Zealand's wealth, are overseas owned - and that proportion is increasing.

GroupThink, cronyism, closed-mindedness, xenophobia, anti-credentialism, rejection of constructive criticism, Number-8-wiring insteading of buying/hiring, and many more self-harming patterns are starkly noticeable to the people who have lived, worked, and managed in the more successful economies. The pity is that very few will read this, fewer will agree with it, fewer will effectively act on it, and it is highly unlikely that any significant improvements in the New Zealand economy and ownership/management culture will occur, until after it is too late. Best of luck to all of us.

As the author of the report it has been very interesting to follow the discussion and it has now reached a point where some comment may be useful. In New Zealand we commonly make the mistake of associating creating more wealth with working longer hours and individual enrichment - often at the expense of others. In the context of the report we talk about national culture and national wealth. National wealth is what we rely upon to pay for our health, education etc (our standard of living) and it is something that we all share in and rely upon. And every single dollar is, at the end of the day, created by business activity wheter we earn and spend now or borrow and pay back later. In that regard the country is no different to a household. We are already working longer than people in most countries (in one study the second longest hours in the world) and we have since the 1950s had to work longer and longer to create the same amount of national wealth - and that is unsustainable. The very things that we hold dear about being Kiwi and living in New Zealand are becoming less attainable. Einstein said "You can't fix a poblem with the same thinking that created it". The report is about stimulating new thinking so that we can create the wealth that we need to be the nation that we aspire to - specifically without having to work longer hours still. That is - we need to create more wealth from the effort that we already make - because at the moment we create a lot less wealth for each hour we work than does the same work in Australia, France, UK, etc. The report contains a number of suggestions for doing that without further compromising our quality of life.

New Zealand is far too small, for wealthy people not to stand out. If you think we have a problem with tall poppies then you are wrong, if anything we are very tolerant of people who amass wealth,. In New Zealand there is only so much money to go around, our economy is tiny and when someone like say “the Hanover crew” embarks on a huge money making scheme then the local economy suffers, when telcom pay a CEO $800,000 a year then everyone notices it, as that money for that payout is dragged out of the community “robbing peter to pay Paul”. In bigger countries this sort of avarice is not even noticed, but in saying that not many of them can venture safely out of their gated communities.

Living in New Zealand is a life style choice, if I wanted to live in a pumping monetarist state I would move to New York or London. I like the steady growth of cottage industry in this country, I love the kiwi can do attitude and I like seeing people saying "up yours" to big business and to the greedy deceptive individuals there in, who attempt to make themselves appear better people. Those who amass wealth are always blind to reason: they always fail to see they do at the cost of everyone else around them.

"the heritage that NZ has in achieving an 8 hour work day "

Whoop-di-do. And your point is?

I worked in France for 5 years and my max hours were 7 hours per day. My Annual Holiday was 31 days plus public holidays. My sick leave (additional to the annual leave) was essentially unlimited provided that a doctor signed me off.

We have a long way to go before we have comparable work/life balance to the EU that's for sure.

I agree with the point about the small, domestic nature of the market and the difficulty in taking next steps to launch a business overseas.

I also think the author of this article makes a mockery of the heritage that NZ has in achieving an 8 hour work day and all the balanced life opportunities that come with that. He may wish to devote his life to work at the cost of engaging with life around him, but for those more enlightened, they understand that the measure of a good life (and you only get one go at it) is to have the time to enjoy it!

As for previous comments about socialism, that was a pretty big leap from not working to earn excessive profits to all of a sudden not being able to pay your way.

1) NZ only has about 4m people which puts a cap on how much a business can grow without going international and dealing with a whole new set of problems somewhere far away. Comparing how much NZ businesses can grow to US businesses is rediculous considering they probably have 50 cities with a population bigger than NZ - ANd some of them only an hour's drive apart.

2) There isn't always the money when you first start to hire "professionals" Some of the fees they charge might take up your entire start-up budget - Doing it yourself is more often than not a neccessity rather than a choice when you start your first business.

Well it all depends how you consider 'wealth' doesnt it? I don't have much money, but in the experiences I have lived and with the friends and family I have, I would call myself a millionaire. "We settle for the goodlife"......well isn't that what everyone should be after? It's not settling, it's finding. I dislike the people in society who are egotistical and materialistic. I have a quote which I love. "the richest people in life don't have everything. the just make the most of what they do have"

As long as we celebrate mediocrity, we will never become a wealthy nation.

In a country where "ordinary kiwi" is a compliment instead of a criticism, we are doomed.

It is the EXTRAordinary Kiwis we want.