Dialogue: Powerful message in life of Sir Peter

By CHRISTINE RANKIN

Last week we lost a great New Zealander - a man who has made a huge contribution to our nation. Sir Peter Blake was a truly international New Zealander and, once our grief has abated, we need to ask ourselves if his death, like his life, has lasting meaning for our country.

As a leader he had an absolute focus on the goal of winning, whether it was the Jules Verne, the coveted America's Cup or protecting the environment. On his team, any activity or person who did not contribute to the simple purpose of making the boat go faster was not right for the team.

In fact, this phrase has become a national metaphor.

Every single contribution was valued, whether it was sweeping the floor of the factory or designing the hull or a sail, as long as a link could be established with making the boat go faster.

Everyone was treated as an equal. He stood beside his team and did many menial tasks along with everyone else.

He praised and encouraged them and made them fiercely proud of what they could and did achieve. And after a while they did it to each other.

He expected them to work hard and to endure the toughest conditions to achieve the ultimate prize.

He made the idea that New Zealand could win the most coveted sporting trophy in the world attainable in the minds of his team, something that initially would have seemed unthinkable.

These qualities are quintessentially Kiwi. These are values we pride ourselves in. They are winning values, as he proved, yet we don't have the same belief in them that we used to have. It is these values which could make us prosperous and successful in a highly competitive world.

How do we use the example of Peter Blake to recapture these values in action and not just fantasy? How can we benefit from his inspiration to make the boat of NZ Inc go faster and faster?

We have been told that New Zealand has among the highest number of entrepreneurs a head of the OECD countries and also that we have some of the highest literacy and numeracy levels among secondary-age students in the world. Obviously we have the raw talent for making our boat go faster. So why isn't it?

Sir Peter built a common view among his team of what was possible - that they could stretch well beyond accepted standards of performance. He made everyone feel that they were part of something greater, that the whole was more than the sum of its parts - and it was.

He gathered talented people around him in the right roles. He focused these people on constantly finding performance improvements, searching and searching until an advantage was found, and using other boats as a point of comparison.

It is easy to dismiss the analogy and say racing the boat of New Zealand Inc in the open class of the global economy is far more complex and subtle than the America's Cup. But the principles still apply.

What is going faster for New Zealand? Have we defined that? Do we have a common view? We say we want to be an added-value economy but do we behave like that? We need a clear development strategy, well articulated with policies and attitudes that value people and their contribution. We need consensus-building, not divisive politics, in which talent and difference are valued, not suppressed.

We need people staying here wanting to be part of New Zealand Inc rather than looking for opportunities in other economies that could easily be provided here.

Sir Peter Blake created an idea around Team New Zealand that it was worth being part of.

We should be seeking competition, learning from the best and then making it better. We should be comparing ourselves with the right competitors, such as Ireland, Finland, Singapore - they are in our class of yachting - not the United States, Britain or Japan. What made their boats go faster? Right now they are an ocean ahead and they shouldn't be.

Sir Peter said that he was frustrated with New Zealand. He said we sold ourselves short. He, in the end, left New Zealand because he could not see how he could help to make our boat go faster. He saw his contribution having much more impact on the world stage.

Let this man's legacy be the empowerment of this country.