Celebrate poppies

David Houle says NZ should focus on innovation. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand and Australia may not have gone through enough economic hardship to lead to a boost in productivity, visiting American "futurist" David Houle says.

Houle was in Auckland this week to speak to a gathering of The Executive Connection, an international network of CEOs who meet in groups of 16 to address business issues and share knowledge.

A regular blogger, speaker and author, Houle says his role is to "act as a catalyst to get people, the market and the world to think about the future".

The United States was about to come out of the greatest recession of his lifetime, and it had scarred the consumer permanently. "Thrift is the new cool," he said.

For 19 consecutive months there had been a retirement of outstanding household debt in the US, something which had never occurred since records began. Meanwhile, in 20 out of 21 months business productivity had increased, largely because of technology.

On a visit to Sydney last month he was struck by the vibrancy of the economy, he said. But that was possibly a bad thing because we hadn't gone through the pain.

"On one hand the economies of New Zealand and Australia are much more dynamic, but on the other hand you have flatline productivity."

The big wealth-creation opportunities were renewable and alternative energies and biosciences. New Zealand needed to become known as an innovator of intellectual property such as renewable energy technologies and sell that to the world.

It also needed to get over its tall-poppy syndrome. "If you want to allow wealth creation you have to allow the tall poppies to be revered."

There was a middle-classness about New Zealand, he said. Research showed extreme wealth didn't buy happiness and in that regard New Zealanders probably had it right, but "if you want economic growth you have got to do something other than you're doing.

"I just think there's an insular comfortableness that is your own enemy." The world needed food so New Zealand would always have a business. "But how much more can you export? You have probably topped out."

In the US there was an excess of venture capital funds chasing too many deals, and if New Zealand could create a brand as a hotbed of innovation the money would come.

Houle said he had always done things that people said would never work. He spent more than 20 years in media working for networks including NBC and CBS, and was part of the executive team that launched MTV, Nickelodeon and CNN Headline News.

He has won two Emmys for a nationally syndicated children's programme and was nominated for an Oscar. He writes the blog evolutionshift.com, and is a contributor to Oprah.com.