We need whole fields of tall poppies if NZ is to thrive

Exactly two years ago today, I drove out of the Hamilton hotel where I’d completed MIQ and into my new life in New Zealand after 20 years overseas.

I hadn’t been in my new job as editor of The Dominion Post for longwhen Iwent to an event organised by KEA, the Kiwi Expat Association, and talked to other peoplewho’d come home.

They gave me two pieces of advice. One: give yourself two years to settle back into home. Two: don’t talk too much about what you did before. Tall poppy syndrome – the tendency to begrudge, resent or mock successful or talented people – is still endemic.

It turns out the advice was bangon on both counts.

The past two years have been a whirlwind – first time buying a house, first time editing a newspaper – and it’s only just now that I feel like I’ve learned how to be a Kiwi again (although I still don’t know any of the ‘‘celebrities’’ on TV).

And the warning about hiding your light under a bushel has also proven right. It’s extremely disappointing, to say the least, that in the 2020s New Zealanders are still cutting down to size anyone who grows taller than the rest. It’s not the done thing around here to be ambitious.

Tech visionary Nat Torkington describes it this way: if New Zealand had amafia, itwould say something like: ‘‘Nice town you’ve got here, shame if something good happened to it.’’

The emblematic example of tall poppy syndrome for people of my generation: the fact that TVNZ rejected the

TV show because it was ‘‘a bit Wellington’’. When the comedy duo went to the Edinburgh Festival, theywere picked up the American cable channel HBO. We all know what happened next.

There are numerous similar examples in the corporate sphere. World-class companies based in New Zealand – from Rocket Lab to PikPok to Optimal Workshop – have thrived despite the Government, not because of it.

We as a country now have a unique opportunity, thanks to the jolt of Covid-19, to change the ways we do things.

But the Government’s economic stimulus efforts have merely reinforced the status quo. Our agriculture industry continues to exert outsized influence on everything from foreign to climate change policy. Our tendency to celebrate companies only when they get bought by international players remains.

Many thousands of New

Zealanders have returned home during the pandemic, bringing with them the skills and experiences and knowledge accrued in global settings. Our companies should be leveraging this talent to position New Zealand businesses on the international stage.

A report by Kerridge Partners, an Auckland-based leadership recruitment firm, found global megatrendswere having a much greater impact on New Zealand than ever before, even before the pandemic. Even companies that operate purely on a domestic level need to develop a more global outlook and appreciate the potential competition from overseas companies that are able to compete and disrupt, it found.

The statistics show that we are losing our edge. In the latest World Competitiveness Rankings from IMD, New Zealand dropped the most out of the 63 countries surveyed – from 20th to 31st.

As Cheewei Kwan, a partner at Kerridge, puts it: ‘‘SellingNew Zealand as a great retirement home is probably not the best way to attract talent.’’

There is somuchwe could be doing as a country if we were better at harnessing and celebrating all the talent that we have here. Exporters and other outwardlooking businesses need to embrace the perfectly proportioned poppies coming home so they can compete on the world stage. We should not be afraid to be aspirational and driven.

We are internationally renowned for our agriculture, and our home-grown tech companies are makingwaves overseas, but where’s the national strategy to become the global leader in agritech? How canwe support 10 more Xeros?

I’ve met lots of inspirational people in Wellington over the past two years. My favourite might just be Graham Le Gros, head of the Malaghan Institute, who is unabashed about his ambition to create aMayo Clinic of the Pacific and a research centre to rival anything at Oxford.

I’m going to continue doing my bit as the editor of this newspaper to celebrate our homegrown talent and our re-patriates – even if I get emails lopping offmy poppy head. We might be small, but there’s no reason we can’t dream big.