In New Zealand currently, there are more “rules” (legislation/ regulation/ policies) that prevent/ prohibit/ restrict than there are which “enable”. In short, we have become exceptionally proficient at self-imposing limitations and constrictions on our lives. The worrying repercussions of taking such a highly regulated approach to governing people’s lives is that it tends to suppress the urge in people to want to question/ innovate/ create/ explore/ experiment. Particularly if “rules” related to such pursuits come with hefty punishment consequences. In New Zealand it is my belief that the rate at which we are innovating has slowed markedly compared with most other western world countries. This trending should be of utmost concern to regulatory authorities – from central government down. For as our rate of innovation slows, so too does our ability to compete in the global economy.
New Zealand has in fact become obsessed with “ticking the right boxes” in order to be compliant – and thereby avoid noncompliance consequences, rather than be focused on “doing what is right” and focusing first and foremost on being innovative/ creative/ experimental. I feel that this regulatory conditioning has had a huge influence on our current OECD ratings where business confidence is concerned.
Sometime very soon unwarranted “rules” need to be repealed, simply to enable the light of innovation/ creativity to shine through again. If we don’t then I can foresee New Zealand’s commercial playing field:
a) Becoming even more saturated in fairly homogeneous products/ services.
b) Becoming even more congested with a massive number of players per business category.
c) Becoming even more littered with commercial fatalities – as the “share of the pie” per small-medium sized player continues to diminish to the point that these businesses become unviable.
A lot of legislation/ regulation/ policy in New Zealand is borne out of “fear”. Fear of the unknown, fear of risks, fear of other people doing bad things to us…and so on. Unfortunately legislating in relation to all and sundry largely out of fear (and a desire to “control”) is mostly serving to:
a) Cause elevated distrust to come about between individuals and organisations.
b) Cause dysfunctional relationships to develop – as a “silo” mentality becomes the predominant mindset in many medium-large Kiwi businesses (because no-one wants to step “out of bounds” in order to help their mate).
c) Cause people to stop even entertaining taking measured risks.
What legislators/ regulators often fail to understand is that in the quest to try and protect society against risks and unwanted events/ behaviours/ outcomes, hard-coded rules actually concurrently serve to constrain/ restrict the development/ evolution of the very same people who these rules were aimed at protecting. I am not surprised in the slightest that the New Zealand economy is bordering on stagnation right now. We’ve successfully suffocated ourselves with a plethora of commercial rules that in many cases arguably are simply not justified.
For the New Zealand business community as a whole to regain some momentum, there needs to be some relaxing of some rules, mostly to enable new innovation/ invention to surface and start attracting investment beyond that of central government. For if the ‘rule book’ is to either remain the volume that it is currently – or worse still, keep having pages added to it – New Zealand’s economic situation is only going to worsen. It is a “choice” that is in front of us – no more and no less. The big question is are those in positions of regulatory power able to understand the above well enough, accept it as being truthful, and then “do the right thing” by reviewing the ‘rule book’ to strike out those rules which are causing most of the current economic suffocation ?
In short, New Zealand must simply get to the point where the ‘rule book’ comprises more rules that “enable” versus “disable” going forward. And the education sector needs to come in behind this change of focus and deliver education which is highly practical and relevant, and which further enables students to be empowered in order to “do the right thing”. That’s how N.Z. will find its feet again, reinvigorate a “can-do” (versus a “not allowed”) mindset and enjoy more widespread success going forward.