Written by a British chap he makes the following seven points, all of which he says are uncomfortable truths, and given our continued similarities with Mother England I can’t help thinking these apply to New Zealand as well given that I’ve the same between NZ and the US in my years of work in both nations:

  1. Financial Openness:
    Americans freely discuss salary, deals and revenue. Brits are guarded and awkward on money matters.
  2. Belief In Possibility:
    Discuss big plans in America: “Why not!?” In the UK: “Why bother?” One culture expands, the other stifles.
  3. Rising Tide Mentality:
    Americans celebrate wins with genuine infectious enthusiasm. It’s all: “LET’S GOs” high-fives, celebrations. Brits tut, cringe with impotent envy, and think “who does he think he is!?” One attitude lifts all boats. The other sinks them.
  4. Learning Focus:
    Every win shared triggered rapid-fire questions: • “What worked?” • “How’d you do it?” • “Can you teach me?” Americans study success. Brits suspect it.
  5. Risk Tolerance:
    “Failure” in America’s proof you took a big swing and missed … this time. In the UK, it’s like a generational stain we try scrubbing off quietly behind closed doors.
  6. Speed of Execution:
    US: “Let’s make it happen” Jump on a call. Refer through networks. Action-first mentality. UK: “Let’s be realistic”. List all problems first. Worst-case scenarios. Every reason NOT to try. They ship while we shuffle.
  7. Follow The Money:
    Britain will lose nearly 10,000 millionaires this year. The US is forecast to gain nearly 4,000. Capital flows where it’s respected, not resented.

I think we’re much better than the Brits on Truths #3, #4 and #6 but there are certainly still elements of Britishness there.

Truth #5 is the one that really gets me. A few weeks ago I was talking with one of the guys who set up the Kiwi Travel International Airlines company flying out of Hamilton to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in the 1990’s. It threw Air NZ for a loop but they copied the model and that was all she wrote, Kiwi Travel eventually going bankrupt. After that he and his partners could get nobody to look at their other ideas. Fortunately he had backup skills so has done well for himself, and he seemed more amused and mystified than bitter but it was annoying to me to hear this.

This is also a numbers game. Yes, we have things like RocketLab and Zuru Toys but we need a hundred more companies like them – and we need them to stay in NZ; RocketLab pulls to the USA and Zuru is in Hong Kong.