Publisher’s Letter: Leaving a legacy

The sobering events of recent months serve as salutary reminders that we are but passing travellers for very brief moment in time on the surface of our planet. No matter how clever we’ve become, ultimately Mother Nature will have her way – as she has for many millions of years.
People search for meaning in the wake of the catastrophes our fellow inhabitants are experiencing.
We may simply have entered period of environmental instability that could shape our existence for some time. This is not palatable concept after several thousand years of relatively stable environment – give or take major volcanic eruption or two.
In the face of events beyond our control, we can adapt; that is our greatest survival tool.
But for those of us directly untouched by any of the recent disasters, and even those who’ve survived them, it behoves us all to make the very best of our time here.
Great examples of Kiwis who live that mantra are the recipients of the Kea World Class New Zealand Awards – the subjects of this month’s cover story.
Kea, the global expat network, celebrates its 10th birthday this year, and the awards, their eighth anniversary. Co-founder Sir Stephen Tindall used his early commercial success as platform for philanthropic work and to establish Kea and nurture its impressive growth through its first decade.
Kea has turned negative statistic – New Zealand’s world-leader status in the number of highly-skilled expats per capita who’ve travelled and remained overseas to pursue career opportunities – into positive. The Kea network has claimed 30,000 of these expats as ambassadors – of whom at least half plan to return to New Zealand someday – promoting Kiwi products, services and connections.
This is potent, well-connected resource, across almost every conceivable sector and discipline, to have at our disposal.
The World Class New Zealand Award winners are not all household names here . Several have had distinguished careers overseas, but all have maintained close links to their homeland and feel responsibility to promote its interests.
As in previous years, they cover the gamut from science, technology and medicine to commerce, academia and the creative arts. It’s an impressive line-up. Their stories are exemplars for all who aspire to leave positive legacy.
In this issue you will find the first in two significant new series for NZ Management magazine. Reg Birchfield’s article on Abano Healthcare introduces the series on Responsible Governance, addressing the issues that are examined during the judging of the Kensington Swan Responsible Governance award for the annual Deloitte/Management magazine Top 200 Companies Awards.
And in response to market feedback that there is insufficient thoughtful and in-depth analysis of financial and economic issues that impact the management of businesses, we introduce our Finance and the Economy series. The first is provocative piece, again by Birchfield, examining the poor personal investment skills of managers.
We hope you find this month’s package an interesting read and, as always, welcome your feedback.