Why's Productivity Low in NZ? The HMNZS Manawanui's Inquiry Explains. Poor Leaders. Its Lousy CEOs, Bosses, Inbred Boards, Ministers, Admirals. Our Non-Human Systems Work Just Fine.

Want to know why productivity is low in NZ? Go read the report into "the circumstances that resulted in the loss of HMNZS MANAWANUI off Upolu, Samoa, on 6 October 2024". It is an allegory for why our economy is not performing better. My latest view is we shouldn't be blaming our economic institutions (which are the rules, or structures, that we work within and which constrain our behaviors). Instead the reason is that a large bunch of the people in charge are nothing short of useless. How come? The Court of Inquiry into the Manawanui's sinking explains. Nothing was defective with that $100 million ship - nothing at all. So why did it go on the rocks? In the words of the Military Court's President, abominable "training & experience .. planning, orders, instructions, procedures .. operational release, supervision, violations, haste, leadership, distraction & interruption & hollowness". All human error.

You can have the best ship, designed by the best engineers, but get a group of bad leaders in charge, and they will drive it on the rocks. NZ has an abundance of natural resources. Most of our institutions compare favorably to other nations in terms of quality. Our courts work pretty well, our democracy has been quite well designed, our Central Bank was set up well, most regulations aren't too bad, infrastructure is actually pretty good when compared to most. Our structures & rules are on the whole decent. You can have the best equipment in the world, but put fools in charge, and it will be crashed. No NZ Minister has barely any specific knowledge of their portfolio. The Education Minister never worked in education; Defense never worked in defense; Justice has no background in law; Health no background in health. The Finance Minister is an English debater & never owned a business. That's not the point. The Heads of Departments they preside over were meant to be experts to advise them. But they're not. Most have little specific knowledge either. Same in our big public companies. Most are run by lawyers, accountants & marketers without knowledge of the core business. The Manawanui's sinking is an allegory to the story of low productivity in NZ. Great ship. Shambolic leaders. Fire our bosses & useless Human Resources Departments.