We Just Don’t Seem To Be Getting It

I was interested to read in an article written by Rod Oram (click here to read), that appeared in the Sunday Star Times recently, that we as a nation just don’t seem to be getting the message that we need to change our thinking around how we’re dealing with the challenges and opportunities of life in the 21st Century.

The first decade doesn’t make for uplifting reading:

• As a country we plunged deeper into debt
• No increase in exports as a percentage of GDP
• Highly inflated prices for houses
• We have the second highest level of household debt in the OECD
• $3.5billion of savings were lost in failed finance companies

And so it goes on.  One of the ironies, is that we as Kiwis still slog our way through one of the longest work weeks in the OECD (Iceland and Japan are the only two countries that work marginally longer hours than we do, but their productivity is significantly higher).

Turning Point makes reference to things like:

• Where we are going is more important than where we have been
• We must become the change we want to see in the world
• The past can be a valuable informant
• Tomorrow is not an extension of yesterday
• If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got
• Working longer, harder and faster is not a sustainable solution to increased workloads

As Turning Point graduates, we have the answers at our fingertips.  But as usual, knowing what to do isn’t the issue, it’s being able to do something about it that counts.

Simple, yes.  Easy, no.  Worth the time and energy, definitely.

by Richard Joseph