I can't help noticing one thing that many of the NZers famous for various achievements from Russell Crowe to (my hero) Dolf de Roos have in common - none of them live there.
Speaking to a group largely comprising ex-pat New Zealanders I wonder if we can discuss why that is? Do people start becoming successful then outgrow New Zealand? Do successful people get out of there as soon as they can?
Personally I think that NZ doesn't really have in the infrastructure in place to support the degree of success that we might like. Obviously a country of our size is unlikely to fund movies on a scale like Gladiator, but I am more talking about training and preparation. Every time I hear about a New Zealander achieving in any arena it turns out they were born in NZ but lived in Aus/US/UK since they were children, so not really something we can claim credit for.
So I wonder - would I be as successful if I had stayed in NZ? Not at all, but that's the effect of travelling and seeing new things, not anything wrong with NZ per se. If I went back to NZ now I would probably do better than I am doing in the UK, but the relative strength of the dollar means that I can leverage my time better by earning pounds than dollars.
Thank you Peter Jackson for receiving international acclaim and staying firmly put in Karaka Bay.
Thoughts?
Speaking to a group largely comprising ex-pat New Zealanders I wonder if we can discuss why that is? Do people start becoming successful then outgrow New Zealand? Do successful people get out of there as soon as they can?
Personally I think that NZ doesn't really have in the infrastructure in place to support the degree of success that we might like. Obviously a country of our size is unlikely to fund movies on a scale like Gladiator, but I am more talking about training and preparation. Every time I hear about a New Zealander achieving in any arena it turns out they were born in NZ but lived in Aus/US/UK since they were children, so not really something we can claim credit for.
So I wonder - would I be as successful if I had stayed in NZ? Not at all, but that's the effect of travelling and seeing new things, not anything wrong with NZ per se. If I went back to NZ now I would probably do better than I am doing in the UK, but the relative strength of the dollar means that I can leverage my time better by earning pounds than dollars.
Thank you Peter Jackson for receiving international acclaim and staying firmly put in Karaka Bay.
Thoughts?
Comment