Apparently, new super minister Steven Joyce (Minister of Science & Innovation, Economic Development and Tertiary Education,Skills & Employment), likes to dive deep into details of a new role or portfolio, beforesurfacing with a strategic direction.
So, as he tries to figure out the government’s lines of science and innovation attack for thecoming three years; let him consider failure.
And, specifically in New Zealand’s case, with consideration of the Kiwi psyche, the opportunityhe has to redefine so-called failure, and promote innovation.
Considering that Joyce is on the (hopefully) revenue creating side of the equation, how he rampsup the return on investment from his three portfolios is crucial, and pivotal for New Zealand.
Kiwis’ attitude to failure is often regarded as the first cousin of our tall poppy syndrome.The attitude may be, probably is, changing.
However, if Steven Joyce is looking for an easy win he could do much worse than further tweak ournotion of failure.
As he cranks up the ‘innovation’ part of MSI, part of the message to Kiwis should be to havea go and more especially ‘have another go’.
‘Failure’ under such a scenario, can be defined as non-success due to a combination offactors…….assuming someone’s not an absolute idiot.
Alternatively, it could be as our American friends refer to it as ‘experience’. It was suchexperience that enabled Tait Electronics to re-emerge,phoenix-like when it went to the wall twice.
Joyce is sure to have experienced setbacks from when he set up
He’ll appreciate that success isn’t an overnight thing, and that sometimes, in fact more thanhalf the time, new businesses fail.
Particularly in the clever technology, smart use of natural resources, food and IT areas –sectors with potential for New Zealand to globally scale – a heck of a lot of businesses are goingto fall over.
So what?
More important is that we learn the lessons, and apply them to the next venture.
Joyce has the opportunity to spout a new mantra on behalf of all New Zealanders.
It’s not necessarily something that bureaucrats lower down the science & innovationfoodchain can do – since no government worker wants to be associated with ‘failure’.
Therefore Joyce, in throwing out a national challenge that success and its close cousin failureis to be celebrated and promoted, has a much better chance of cranking up the revenue side of theequation by giving ourselves permission to ‘have a go’.
Sure, there will be some failures.
But the ‘risk’ also is, there will be some outrageous successes.
The areas likely to take off are as Sir Paul Callaghan describes as
So, redefine failure as a revenue-enhancing philosophy.
The ball’s in your court Steve.