Hop to it, says lateral leader

Edward de Bono says New Zealand has a freshness about it. Photo / Supplied

Edward de Bono wants the world to think its way out of the economic downturn.

But that objective hit a hurdle when he scheduled a seminar on the topic in Auckland: the New Zealand events company that was bringing him to the country went into liquidation last month.

On appointing a liquidator, the directors of Red Carpet said the economic conditions had led to "significant losses" from recent events, because of the small numbers attending.

Such problems are not new to de Bono - a company that hosted him on a Middle East speaking tour last year went bust afterwards, and he was not paid.

But in New Zealand, the Human Resources Institute has stepped in to host next week's seminar - in a spirit of positive thinking of which de Bono certainly approves.

Speaking to the Herald on Sunday from Malaysia, de Bono said the biggest problem facing the world was not climate change or recession but a lack of innovative thinking.

One of his solutions may leave more parochial representatives of the agriculture industry somewhat aghast. He suggested implanting kangaroos' stomach bacteria in New Zealand sheep and cattle because kangaroos had been shown to emit less of the climate-change gas methane.

"Cows worldwide produce 20 million tonnes of methane a year," he said, "and one sheep produces enough methane to drive a lightweight motorcycle for 200 miles. So maybe you ought to be putting kangaroo bugs into cows and sheep too."

How would this affect transtasman relations? "Maybe you can find a New Zealand animal that, like the kangaroo, doesn't produce methane."

De Bono acknowledged a little brother-big brother relationship between the two countries.

"New Zealand has a freshness about it. I always think that New Zealand is the Canada to Australia's United States."

But that might also entail some of the same insecurities, he noted.

De Bono, who divides his time between London, his Malta birthplace, and international governmental consulting expeditions, has been rated by Forbes as one of the top 20 business thinkers in the world.

This may well be his last visit to New Zealand, as he has announced plans to cut back on international travel because of his age. He has no meetings scheduled with John Key's Government, but met former prime minister Helen Clark on a previous visit, and when he addressed a Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Malta. He said media panic and hype was half the cause of the recession. (The other 50 per cent was attributable to unmanageable toxic securities, and to "game-players" who were taking advantage of the downturn by, for instance, using it to justify redundancies).

The $395-a-head seminar is targeted at business people and educators, and is intended to help them find ways to change how they do business, so as to emerge stronger from the downturn.

De Bono cautiously commended Finance Minister Bill English for suspending contributions to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund for the next 11 years, saying the money might be needed more now for debt reduction and social spending.

When the economy improved, he said, super savings could be resumed.

But De Bono also argued for unusual new economic incentives in struggling property markets like those in New Zealand.

"At the present moment when property prices are falling, no one wants to buy - they say let's sit tight while they fall further," he said.

"As a result, the market falls further.

"Now, we could design a different type of contract which says, 'I'll sell to you today at today's price, but if in two years' time the house price index has fallen further, I'll refund you part of your purchase price'.

"That means there's no need to wait."

His confidence in such incentives is not new: he also argued that the nations that helped set up Israel should provide Palestine with US$3 billion in aid every year - but reduce it by $50 million for every time Hamas fired a rocket across the border into Israel. That, he said, would bring a quick end to the violence.

"You have to find a way forward that leads to positive action," he said.

GIVEAWAY

Edward De Bono's half-day seminar, Thinking For Change, will be held in Auckland on Thursday, June 18. For more information and to buy tickets, visit www.hrinz.org.nz.

The Herald on Sunday has two tickets, valued at $395 each, to give away. For a chance to win, all you need to do is answer the following question: What country was Edward de Bono born in?

Please email your name, address and answer to editor@heraldonsunday.co.nz, with the subject line, "De Bono tickets competition". Entries close at 5pm on Wednesday, June 10.