There’s a thing in the corporate world called a Net Promoter Score. I’ve personally always had reservations about it, in the way it measures the likes of customer satisfaction or staff engagement.
Let me explain. Below are the results - entirely unscientific, of course - of the mood poll we’ve been carrying out over the course of the two-week Great New Zealand Road Trip, as we asked readers to rate how they’re feeling about life on a scale of 1-10 - 1 being “meh” and 10 being “joyful”.
As you can see, these results (again, entirely unscientific), from more than 31,000 respondents, are reasonably rosy.
As of Saturday morning, three-quarters of respondents marked down a ‘5′ or above and 22 per cent were a ‘9′ or ‘10′.
That positive sentiment was certainly what I found as I travelled around New Zealand in the all-electric Volkswagen ID.5 over the past two weeks.
But if New Zealand was a business using the NPS method of scoring, our ‘staff engagement’ would be -24, measured on a scale of anything between -100 and +100.
That’s because NPS calculates the percentage of the most highly engaged people (it deems these to be 9s and 10s) and subtracts from that the percentage of the least engaged people (it deems these to be anyone scoring a 1 to 6).
The 7s and 8s are disregarded (which is one of the various issues with NPS).
If you were the CEO of New Zealand, you’d be calling your leaders together to sort out a minus 24 NPS. Maybe that’s Christopher Luxon’s job.
We certainly have major short- and long-term issues to resolve - right now, we’re battling economic headwinds and a cost of living crisis while our health and education systems are a mess and will take years to fix. The income divide is an issue.
We’ve also come through a tough period of dealing with Covid and seen a Government that won, in 2020, a historic majority vote under the MMP system only to lose half of those voters only three years later. Mike King says today he’s “never witnessed our beautiful country more divided” - but he is hopeful.
There are many positive things happening and without being Pollyannaish about it, the Great New Zealand Road Trip project was designed to uncover some of those stories and people during our two-week journey from Bluff to Auckland. To start building on that hope.
There were, and are, plenty of incredible stories to be told. Our mood certainly seems better than a -24 NPS score.
First up, sustainability. Everyone, apart from a sometimes vocal minority, knows we must be addressing the impacts of climate change.
One of our biggest trucking firms has started turning to hydrogen as a means of a dual-fuel system; one of our most legendary entrepreneurial companies, Hamilton Jet, is doing the same with electric motors. Farmers are also doing amazing work in this area - with the likes of electric equipment at a Central Otago cherry farm and Lake Hawea station’s innovative and climate-positive approach to farming.
Meanwhile, our entrepreneurial spirit extends beyond that and thrives in the most unlikeliest places - two old buildings in Matiere, in the middle of nowhere, that are actually a factory line for a product being sold globally, including to A-list stars; and Sir Richard Taylor, whose Wētā Workshop empire - based in suburban Miramar - extends now well beyond film and TV work.
There are people who are leading the charge in helping turn around negative perceptions within their communities, cities and regions - such as Awatere Douglas, only 28, who was washing dishes at the Sudima Hotel 10 years ago. Now he’s the manager of the hotel, Rotorua’s biggest, and the city’s tourism industry is thriving again. Look out for that name in the future.
Or the incredible John Bougen who has been leading the revival of Reefton, a business high-flyer transplanted from Auckland in 2015. In Wellington, as Georgina Campbell reported, Victoria McDowall and Harry McArthur have opened a new bar in Cuba Mall, ignoring the doomsayers and retail closures.
Many notable and noteworthy New Zealanders gave me their time and kindness for the road trip including four good people who also happen to be knights of the realm - Sir Grahame Sydney, Sir Ian Taylor, Sir Richard Taylor and Sir Gil Simpson.
Funny story about Sir Gil - his wife, Joy, had emailed me after I previewed the road trip two weeks ago by interviewing Kelly Johnson, the star of New Zealand’s iconic road trip, car-chase movie Goodbye Pork Pie.
Joy said she and her husband owned one of the four original Minis used in the movie - and not just any of the four, but the main one. They kindly met me at their storage unit in Christchurch and lifted the garage door to reveal a piece of cinematic history. A wonderful story - it wasn’t until midway through the interview that I realised who I was actually speaking to.
Fourteen notable and noteworthy New Zealanders took part in our Nine Questions With... column and I asked each of them for one word to sum up their mood: Sir Ian Taylor (cautiously optimistic), Nadia Lim (grateful), Arihia Bennett (optimistic), Justine Ross (misanthropical), Brianne West (optimistic), Sarah Ramsay (hopeful), Peter Burling (excited), Sam Stubbs (excited), Lucy Lawless (focused), Liam Malone (abundance) Bailey Mackey (tired), Trish Peng (excited), Paddy Gower (optimistic) and today, Mike King (hopeful).
I approached every day New Zealanders out and about each day on the trip, and took a picture of them with the “mood board”. Their various descriptions were: ‘Stunning’, ‘hopeful’, ‘positive’, ‘excited’, ‘great!’, ‘happy’, ‘having a great day’, ‘relaxing’, ‘stoked’, ‘life’s good’, ‘ambivalent’ and ‘relaxed’.
As for the road trip itself, New Zealand remains one of the wonders of the world. The South Island, in particular, with its lack of cars and relatively good state of the highways, was a delight to drive. Within a matter of two hours I had travelled from a beach to a mountain top. Sometimes we take these things for granted.
My route - Dunedin-Invercargill-Bluff-Gore-Queenstown-St Bathans-Danseys Pass-Timaru-Christchurch-Greymouth-Nelson-Picton-Wellington-Palmerston North-Whanganui-New Plymouth-Matiere-Taumarunui-Tūrangi-Taupō-Rotorua-Tauranga-Hamilton-Auckland - was by no means exhaustive.
Over the past three summers, I’ve enjoyed holiday road trips to Northland, East Coast and Hawke’s Bay - they are jewels. Time conspired against me on this trip, but I will be there again one day soon.
I received a wonderful email from Alastair and Gwen Jones on Friday, outlining what they consider a one-day road trip that would leave memories of a lifetime - on the longest day of the year, watching the sunrise at the East Cape lighthouse and then driving to the Cape Egmont lighthouse in Taranaki to watch the sunset. The couple was specific about the route - SH35, SH2, SH30, SH43 and various rural roads. What a superb idea.
Thank you to everyone who spoke to me on the trip and helped me find and tell these amazing stories, and thank you to the hundreds of thousands of people who read them.
As I wrote on Saturday, the Volkswagen ID.5 was a revelation for me - the all-electric car handled New Zealand’s myriad road and weather conditions brilliantly.
As for my own mood? Optimistic, most definitely.
But I like Nadia Lim’s description best: Grateful.
Best city: Invercargill. Yes, really - superb weather and the city centre is being revitalised thanks to the support of the Richardson family
Best town: Reefton - magic happening on the West Coast
Best village: Matiere - a small community with a big heart
Best region: Central Otago - the landscape and the people are out of this world
Best weather: Invercargill, Nelson, Tauranga
Worst drivers: Rural Waikato
Most roadkill: SH85 near Omakau in Central Otago
Most potholes: SH3, Taranaki
Best pub: Vulcan Hotel, St Bathans, Central Otago
Best pies: Fat Bastards Pies, Invercargill
Best road-trip treats: The famous Sheffield Pies and their homemade yo-yos in Canterbury
Best drive: Danseys Pass, Central Otago
Best breakfast: Pancakes, Reefton’s famous Broadway tearooms
Best tourist attraction: Bill Richardson Transport World, Invercargill
Best sign: Oi, slow 4 kids - painted on perhaps New Zealand’s lowest bridge in King Country.
Best view: Too many to describe, but three stood out: Danseys Pass, Ōtira Viaduct and the Waituhi lookout and views of the central North Island volcanic plateau
Officers were photographed helping to paint protest signs.