Journal
Insights on future ready leadership, the economics of justice, systemic innovation, and equity by design.
Who Said It? | Who Is? | What Is? | Did You Know? | Systems in Practice | Signals and Reflections
"You wouldn't need charity if the world was just."
“You wouldn’t need charity if the world was just.”
Charity matters, but justice matters more. What if the real work of leadership isn’t simply giving back, but redesigning the systems that create inequality in the first place?
Who is Prof. Mariana Mazzucato?
The economist redefining the role of government — not as a market referee, but as a co-creator of innovation and public value.
Her work reveals how the boldest technologies of our time were born from public investment, and why the future depends on reimagining the partnership between state and enterprise.
"Business and society have a symbiotic relationship…”
Long before “stakeholder capitalism” became a buzzword, the Business Roundtable declared that business and society are symbiotic — each depending on the other to thrive.
Four decades later, we’re still catching up to that truth. Read on to explore how this forgotten wisdom reshapes the way we think about corporate purpose today.
Who is Antionette Carroll, M.A. ?
What if design wasn’t just about solving problems, but about shifting power?
Through her Equity-Centred Community Design (ECCD™) framework, Antoinette D. Carroll redefines innovation to centre equity, justice, and lived experience — a blueprint with powerful lessons for anyone shaping systems, from policy to fintech.
What is Common Good Economics ?
Common Good Economics, championed by Professor Mariana Mazzucato, asks us to reimagine how value is created and shared — not after the fact, but from the start.
In fintech, that shift could change everything. Discover how “pre-distribution” thinking might redefine what innovation, inclusion, and impact look like in financial technology.
Finance is missing dignity as a design principle.
For too long, financial products have been built by and for those already inside the system, leaving many excluded by complexity, assumptions, and one-size-fits-none thinking.
Could dignity be the missing ingredient that unlocks both trust and innovation?
"Business cannot succeed in societies that fail."
Who said it? "Business cannot succeed in societies that fail." This quote hits differently in today’s world of rising costs, fractured systems, and growing inequality. It’s a timely reminder that social and environmental breakdowns aren’t distant threats, they’re business risks.
New Zealand first tackled pay equity in female-dominated jobs 50 years ago.
Did you know? New Zealand first tackled pay equity in female-dominated jobs 50 years ago, by imagining what a man would be paid to do the same work.
In 1973, unionist Graham Kelly QSO (my father-in-law) became secretary of the Wellington Shop Employees' Union and immediately faced a challenge: employers were creating new, lower-paid job classifications to defeat the intention of the Equal Pay Act 1972.
What is Intergenerational Equity?
Intergenerational equity refers to the principle of fairness between generations, ensuring that today's decisions don't compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs and enjoy similar opportunities. So, how businesses can create intergenerational impact?
False Economy: Undermining Pay Equity Creates Business Inefficiencies
The government's rush to dismantle New Zealand's pay equity framework last week wasn't just pushed through under urgency; there is broad sentiment that it was pushed through to make the budget look better.
The government claims the rushed changes to the Pay Equity Act will save “billions”, but this completely misses the bigger economic picture.
Gutting our pay equity laws isn't a triumph of fiscal responsibility; it's a budget allocation trick creating market distortions that businesses will ultimately pay for.
Do we have the courage to lead?
Do we have the courage to lead when human sense and business sense face formidable opposition?
Two years ago, I shared this Harvard Business Review article and research showing the financial consequences of politically-motivated business restrictions. Reading it again over the weekend, I was struck by how the warning is even more pertinent today than it was then.