A new year. new decade. What will they deliver? It is reasonable question and one reason why, at the end of last year, we asked our long-standing and New Zealand’s leading political columnist, Colin James, to have an extended, and thankfully revealing, discussion with Prime Minister John Key. The point is, what Key thinks and does this year will, all things being equal, more profoundly impact the fortunes, stability and lives of this country’s economy, society and population than the thoughts and actions of any of our other leaders.
We wanted James to provide you with some measure of the man and his management and leadership capability. After year in the job, how does he rate Key’s political management and leadership performance? What, if anything, does he conclude from reviewing his performance and, how does he think John Key’s actions so far tally with what he says he wants to achieve for New Zealand?
Why is this story important to you? That’s an easier question to answer. NZ Management magazine’s readers primarily comprise New Zealand’s top echelon of decisions makers – in business, in local and central government organisations, in the not-for-profit sector, in academia, in fact, in pretty well any significant sector of our society you care to consider. And Key and his cabinet will, at least for another two years, make crucial decisions that will profoundly impact the environment in which the nation’s decision makers at every level must operate.
Key is seated at the head of the cabinet table at critical time in the nation’s history. His vision of the future must be significantly different from the views held and enacted by most of the past three or four decades of political leaders. Tomorrow’s problems are distinctly and dramatically different from those we have encountered before. Politics may still be politics, but if John Key is as politically predictable as his ideologically primitive predecessors, he simply won’t cut the mustard and New Zealand, along with many other countries, has got problems. On the other hand, New Zealand could be an example to the world on number of important levels.
James’ cover story is revealing. It is an example of the kind of reporting, analysis and interpretation of issues and individuals that NZ Management has been delivering for tad over 55 years. Now is difficult transition time for media like NZ Management and, while the delivery of what we have to say and report will evolve with new technologies, the integrity and relevance of it will not. Managers and leaders must think differently about tomorrow.
NZ Management magazine is committed to helping you.

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