Transcon’s Blake Noble examines the country’s current direction and discusses the best investments to align with its future.

Last month’s column definitely got some dialogue going. My thanks to those of you who reached out, both in support and to challenge my musings. Either way, it spawned exactly the conversation we need to be having, and if nothing else, it stirred up the sort of emotion from people I hoped it would.

Not too long after the last column hit the shelves, I was at a small dinner with Nick Leggett, the former CEO of Transporting New Zealand, current CEO of Infrastructure New Zealand and chair of Wellington Water. Nick was there to provide some insight on the scale and nature of the infrastructure task in front of us – without question, one of mammoth proportions.

At the heart of Nick’s delivery was the theme that, ultimately, a lot of the approach to infrastructure would be about choices or, to put it another way, the potential compromises we must make to achieve the outcomes required for the greater good. An example might be the acknowledgement that the country needs a robust link between the North and South Islands, the choice or compromise of which might mean less budget available elsewhere due to the investment required to bridge (figuratively) the Cook Strait.

The conversation that followed, however, wasn’t really part of the script and went on a tangent remarkably relevant to my last column. Among our party of 15, the questions grew louder: Where is the country heading, and what investments should we make to align with that direction?

Essentially, not one of those in attendance (a group of business owners, employers and those from professional services) could clearly define the trajectory we are on or want to be on as a nation. I don’t mean the sort of direction the current political cycle has delivered. Instead, I mean an enduring, inspirational, aspirational, memorable and credible vision – the sort that could anchor and align our most significant decisions.

Think of the power of the famous Team New Zealand ‘Will it make the boat go faster?’ mantra, born of an unwavering desire to win the America’s Cup – a singular universal focus with immense clarity that enabled any decisions to be sheeted back to a straightforward objective. If it wasn’t going to make the boat go faster, it wouldn’t be done. Will that spending on a new motorway connection between location A and location B align with our national objective to be, for example, an efficient and productive exporter of high-value products and reduce costs associated with conducting that activity?

Now, transpose that concept to the hopes and dreams of our good nation. We’ve previously held onto the ‘Clean, green New Zealand’ tagline, probably more so from a tourism perspective. I won’t come remotely close to even partially nailing it within these column inches, but dream if you will of a clear vision that encapsulates that pride and, most importantly, helps us make some of those choice/compromise scenarios I suspect are going to be coming at our decision- makers, centrally and locally, with increased vigour.

A 30-second brain dump has generated the likes of the following conversation starters. It’s likely hundreds more could be generated by much wiser New Zealanders than I…

‘Food and fibre innovators to help feed and clothe the world.’

‘Technology incubation changing the world.’

‘The healthiest, most technologically and efficiently connected communities.’

‘An education system delivering for all and equipping our nation with the skills and knowledge to win tomorrow.’

Like changing (or keeping) the flag, consensus will never prove simple, but without these conversations, we’ll remain forever distant from a better tomorrow. Not for a second do I surmise that this will come easily or that we haven’t got a long ‘road’ to hoe, but without a vision, we’ll continue to drive down the road to nowhere…