The purposeful path to future prosperity
New Zealand stands at an inflection point. Once celebrated globally for its integrity, ingenuity and natural beauty, it now faces a complex set of 21st-century challenges: Productivity decline, widening inequality, talent shortages, environmental degradation and an erosion of trust in business and government alike. Yet within these challenges lies an extraordinary opportunity — to rediscover what makes Aotearoa different and to show the world how a small, values-driven nation can lead through purpose.
The power of purpose
Around the world, purpose has moved from rhetoric to results. Future focused companies that embed purpose at the core of governance and strategy consistently outperform their peers in growth, innovation and resilience. Purpose-driven organisations attract and retain talent more effectively, inspire loyalty among customers and earn the trust of investors and communities. When purpose becomes a measurable driver of decision-making — as formalised in the emerging ISO 37011 international standard on purpose-driven governance — it unlocks a flywheel of value creation that benefits both business and society.
In a world defined by disruption — from AI and climate transition to demographic and societal shifts — purpose has emerged as both a moral compass and a rational strategy for long-term success. It offers business leaders a clear alternative to short-termism, helping organisations navigate complexity with confidence, integrity and impact.
Why this matters to New Zealand
Few nations are better placed than New Zealand to lead in this space. Purpose resonates deeply with Kiwi values — fairness, community, stewardship, ingenuity
and manaakitanga — a way of being, grounded in respect, generosity and care. These are not abstract ideals; they are the foundations of a uniquely New Zealand approach to enterprise — one that strengthens our integrity and balances commercial success with collective wellbeing.
It was here, in Aotearoa, that the idea of a Single Organizing Idea (SOI®) — a practical method for embedding purpose at the heart of business strategy — first took root. The framework was conceived and inspired by what New Zealand stood for in my heart and mind: A place where integrity, creativity and care for people and planet could coexist naturally in business. Those same values still make this the ideal place to show the world how purpose can be made practical — not as a slogan, but as a system that unites people, drives productivity, generates new ideas, streamlines decision making and strengthens New Zealand’s reputation as a forward-thinking, purpose-led economy.
And yet, for all this natural alignment, purpose is very poorly understood by most New Zealand business leaders. The irony is that while our culture instinctively reflects purpose — fairness, ingenuity, community and care — our businesses rarely do. Too often purpose is dismissed as ‘fluff’ by poorly informed champions of the status quo, reduced to marketing language by advertising and brand agencies, or confined to the domain of sustainability teams by misguided leadership. In reality, purpose is a dynamic governance and performance driver that delivers competitive advantage in multiple ways — it is literally the missing link between values and value creation.
The economic case
When purpose is properly understood and implemented, it becomes the most powerful form of value creation there is. It aligns culture with performance, turns trust into capital and converts a Single Organising Idea into measurable results.
Global research shows that purpose-driven companies deliver up to 42% higher financial performance and 30% greater innovation output than competitors. A Harvard Business Review meta-analysis found that firms with a clear sense of purpose report stronger employee engagement and outperform the stock market by as much as 5–7% annually over the long term. Likewise, The Financial Times has reported that companies integrating purpose into governance and strategy demonstrate greater resilience during economic downturns and recover faster than peers.
For New Zealand — where small and medium-sized enterprises make up 97% of all businesses — this represents a significant and largely untapped lever for growth.
If we can help Kiwi businesses systematically identify, define and embed their purpose, we can unlock more than productivity gains. We can build stronger brands, attract talent and investment, increase export value and create an economy that competes on both integrity and ingenuity — one that’s genuinely future-fit.
By making purpose central to New Zealand’s business identity, we can help ensure that the next chapter of Aotearoa’s success story is one the world looks to for inspiration — and that, in itself, creates lasting value.
Book Review: The Evolving Doughnut: A Model for a Thriving Future
The Evolving Doughnut: A Model for a Thriving Future
When I read Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics back in 2017, it felt like a revolution in how we might think about progress. The designer inside me loved it instantly — a model that made economics both meaningful and beautiful. It reminded me of Edward R. Tufte’s The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, a book I’ve always admired for showing how great graphic design can reveal truth rather than decorate it. Raworth’s simple, elegant doughnut did exactly that — balancing human well-being within the planet’s ecological limits, cutting through the ongoing noise of GDP obsession and offering something rare: A picture of an economy designed to serve life, not the other way around.
Eight years on, the model has evolved again. In The Evolving Doughnut (2025), Raworth and Andrew Fanning transform the idea from a static snapshot into a living system — an annual monitor of global social and ecological health. It’s an extraordinary synthesis of science, data and moral clarity. It reminds us that the challenge isn’t simply to grow; it’s to grow up.
At its heart, the doughnut remains disarmingly simple:
- The inner ring defines the social foundation — the minimum conditions for every person to live with dignity.
- The outer ring defines the ecological ceiling — the planetary boundaries we must not exceed. Between them lies the safe and just space for humanity.
In this new iteration, every indicator tells a story. Some good — global access to electricity has risen, literacy has improved. Others, less so — carbon emissions, biodiversity loss and chemical pollution have all worsened dramatically. The visualisation now includes time-series data from 2000 to 2022, showing the deep imbalance between social progress and ecological overshoot. It’s both sobering and motivating.
What I find most powerful, however, is how Raworth acknowledges that the doughnut is not a Western invention but part of a long lineage of indigenous wisdom. She references Māori, Andean, Taoist and Buddhist traditions that see well-being as balance, not accumulation.
“In Māori culture,” she writes, “the concept of well-being combines spiritual, ecological, kinship and economic well-being, interwoven as interdependent dimensions.”
That idea could not be more relevant to Aotearoa today. It aligns beautifully with the essence of purpose — and with the forthcoming ISO 37011 standard on purpose-driven governance, which will guide organisations worldwide to embed the well-being of all stakeholders into decision-making and performance. Together, they redefine success not by scale or shareholder return, but by how well an organisation balances economic growth and positive social impact with environmental protection and renewal — contributing to the interdependent well-being of people, planet, and community.
Raworth’s evolving doughnut gives us a map. Purpose gives us the compass. Together, they point to a future where business is not about extracting value from the world, but creating value within its limits.
Why purpose-driven business isn’t risky business
Why purpose-driven business isn’t risky business
If there is one thing business leaders can agree on today, it is that risk is everywhere. Geopolitical shocks, climate disruption, artificial intelligence, shifting social norms — the pace and complexity of change is relentless. In such conditions, the instinct to tighten control and wait for calmer waters is understandable. But it is also perilous. In a world defined by uncertainty, standing still is often the riskiest move of all.
History proves the point. Kodak invented the digital camera but was fixated on protecting its film cash-cow. Blockbuster optimised its stores and late fees while streaming surged. Bookstore chain Borders outsourced online sales to Amazon and lost its customers. Toys ‘R’ Us was too debt-burdened to invest in omnichannel. Nokia clung to legacy software as the smartphone era dawned. Different sectors, same error: These companies didn’t fail because they took bold bets on the future — they failed because they did the opposite. In their inward-looking complacency, they mistook efficiency for strategy and risk aversion for prudence. The result was premature — and entirely avoidable — demise.
The risk of not acting
Here in New Zealand, as economist Cameron Bagrie recently observed in the New Zealand Herald (28 September 2025), too many boards are going/have gone down the same road. Citing the OECD’s 2022 Economic Survey of New Zealand, he pulled no punches in reminding readers that “Management boards in New Zealand’s firms are often more focused on preserving existing value and regulatory compliance than on growth strategies that involve productivity-enhancing investments and international expansion.”
Relying on old-school thinking, New Zealand’s boardrooms remain preoccupied with preservation over progress and efficiency over strategy. They’ve convinced themselves that waiting is wisdom — that the safest move is no move at all. Which, in plain speak, is inertia.
Yet the world outside their boardrooms is anything but inert. It is shifting — technologically, socially, demographically and geopolitically — at speed. Business governance is shifting too. Yesterday’s ‘business-as-usual’ model is being dismantled in real time by future-focused companies that understand risk and opportunity are now two sides of the same coin. Fossil-fuel firms are being overtaken by purpose-driven clean-tech innovators. Artificial intelligence is redrawing industries and redefining value creation. Conscious consumers are demanding transparency and authenticity. Increasing numbers of workers are gravitating towards employers that share their values and have a purpose beyond just making profit. Investors are pricing sustainability and resilience, not just returns.
Purpose as the antidote to risk and uncertainty
In this environment of constant change, evolving, grasping the future and pivoting towards being purpose-driven is anything but risky — it is the opposite. It is a golden opportunity:
- To embed a unifying and future-focused governance framework — a Single Organising Idea (SOI®) — that anchors decision-making and aligns the business behind a shared purpose.
- To shift the focus from protecting the status quo to channelling effort and resources into tangible outcomes that deliver both financial and social value.
- To empower boards and leaders with a north star that reduces ambiguity, sharpens decision-making and builds the confidence to act.
- To attract talent, partners and investors who are increasingly drawn to organisations with clarity of purpose and the courage to lead through change.
Because when a business knows who it is, why it exists and how it creates value for others, risk and uncertainty cease to be threats — they become sources of advantage.