Act's David Seymour is the stand-out minor party leader according to the 2021 Herald CEOs survey. He even rated ahead of National's Judith Collins on the latest 1 News Colmar Brunton preferred PM poll at 11 per cent to Collins' 5 per cent.
Many CEOs have marked him outas the de facto Opposition leader.
Greens co-leader James Shaw continues to impress business leaders who ranked him third in their ratings of Cabinet Ministers on ministerial performances; marginally ahead of fourth-ranked Jacinda Ardern.
Shaw is shepherding through challenging climate change reforms and has painstakingly worked to take the business sector with him. He will represent NZ at COP 26 in Glasgow at the upcoming UN Climate Change conference. His co-leader Marama Davidson does not have cut-through.
The Māori Party co-leaders debut for the first time in the CEOs survey.
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi became MPs at the 2020 election — three years after the party was last represented in Parliament. They have been a been a vocal and forceful presence in Parliament.
Datacom's Tony Carter said: "While I don't agree with many of the Māori party views, their leaders are passionate advocates for them which you can respect," a view replicated by some other CEOs.