Commentaries Index
These are brief articles and excerpted newsletters by Windshift's Director, Jill Caldwell on a range of topics concerning business, social change and communications. Commentaries began in 2003 and are updated annually.
They're great at spending it. But what about investments? Are Baby Boomers making the most of their wealth?
Back
Up the OECD 2003
New Zealand is NOT RICH ENOUGH. But do we have the right prescription
to climb back up to the top half of the OECD list of rich countries?
Best of Both Worlds 2008
In such a fluid environment you must assess the opportunities, first and foremost by recognising what you are and what you aren’t.
Boiling Frogs 2007
If it's 2015 and New Zealand has become one of the leading countries in the OECD, what must have happened?
Climatic Scenarios 2007
"The last thing this planet needs is for climate change to be an issue that only New Zealand takes seriously. It needs to be an issue that Asia and Europe and the America’s take seriously. And it is."
The Collective US 2008
The US political and economic situation reveals what happens when freedom becomes anarchy
Economic
Growth & Wellbeing 2004
The two are linked - but how?
Influencing New Zealand's Future 2006
There's a bright future out there for this small nice country, but it's becoming a bigger backwater
than it really should be. Solving this problem begins with us
Inspired by Auckland 2008
Auckland is coming into its own as a place for the ‘up for it’ people to live. Just as I hoped in 2003 [see below]
The Lore of the Downturn 2008
We need to understand the new rules of the downturn rather than just blindly sliding down the slippery slope with everyone else
Making the Most of Auckland 2003
Auckland has suffered an identity crisis of massive proportions
- as befits its size. Now it's time for a new very cool, very
fused Auckland to emerge.
Movers
and Shakers 2003
Most of the energy for social change comes from people under 35
- and disproportionately from the Movers and Shakers sub-group.
Is New Zealand making the most of its most important resource?
Moving Up the Value Chain 2006
Iincreasing value isn't just about education and service quality - it's about creating more compelling experiences for customers that fit them better .
The Mouse that Roared 2003
Not just "not bad for a small country" but bloody good
for any sized country. That good old Kiwi flair has finally been
put to proper use.
Our Real New Zealand Edge 2006
Our "thinness" is an enormous part of who we are as a people. But it's no guarantee of export success or future prosperity - not for the country anyway.
Peaking, Tipping & Discovering 2008
The increasing scarcity of new fuel reserves and the rising cost of fuel will have subtle but ultimately game-changing effects on our economic landscape.
Silver Linings 2008
Change brings opportunity. Even as the world looks bleak it offers amazing new opportunities to invest and change course. If we don't, of course the cockroaches are waiting in the wings.
Talented Under-achievers 2006
There's a strong whiff of "could do better" about New Zealanders - but no lack of talent and initiative. So how can this wonderful resource be amplified.
The Tribes as Consumers 2008
Personally I’ve been pleased to find how well the tribes have done in explaining the nature of the economic changes we’re seeing in New Zealand.
Tribes, Culture & Change 2007
Until you observe the Grey Lynn tribe pulling out all the stops to ensure that change doesn't happen you don't really understand the Knowing-Doing Gap.
Value & Irony 2007
What's the relationship between energy efficiency, information and productivity?
"I’m kind of hoping we are the smart little country we think we are – which can turn on a dime and float through the gaps – and that we’ll go all out as a country to make ourselves safe and keep ourselves going."
What Works? 2008
If 70-90% of all strategic change initiatives fail, does that mean 70-90% of organisations and companies successfully resist the impetus to change course?
Bringing up Kids
in New Zealand 2004
We have ambivalent attitudes to children in New Zealand
Christmas Predictions 2008
How will the downturn affect our behaviour at Christmas time?
The Dishwasher Effect 2007
How difficult it is to anticipate how well you're going to like something
before you actually experience it.
Experiencing Change 2008
Plus ca change plus c’est la meme chose? Is it really all relative? Think about your life five years ago. . . . Now think about what’s changed since then.
Families
in the Global Technoculture 2004
What was once destiny
is now choice, Despite neo-traditionalist anxiety, the trend in
the Western world is firmly towards marriage as an optional extra.
Our perceptions of the brands and services we consume depend strongly on the context in which we consume them. So what happens when that changes?
Inter-generational Diplomacy 2007
"You can tell BBs are starting to feel out of their depth because their level of protest about
Generation Y has risen from a background grumble to a cacophony of complaint"
Let's Talk about Something Else 2007
Celebrating the launch of 8 Tribes: the hidden classes of New Zealand by Jill Caldwell & Christopher Brown.
The
New Hunter Gatherers 2004
Modern relationships still contain elements of ancient hunter
gatherer gender divisions. But these are sophisticated hunter-gatherers.
Plausible Alternatives 2004
Newsletter exploring how social ideas change and why narcissism
is now so much more acceptable.
Customers in the twenty first century want what they want, how they want and when they want. Has consumer society created a monster?
Power
to the People 2004
New Zealanders want what they want - and they're prepared to fight
for it
Sex
& Drugs & Whatever 2004
Changing gender identities, increasing fluidity and relativism
define the lifestyles of the younger generation
Simpler Times 2007
Explores the modern desire for nostalgia and the role it plays in uncertain times
Tall
Poppies & Cultural Cringes 2004
Powerful normative influences exist in every society. In New Zealand
we've given them names.
How to actually embed insights from research into the way an organisation operates using Windshift's Trajectories method.
Inspiring
New Zealanders 2004
Who or what inspires New Zealanders?
Kiwi
Aspirations 2004
Nine common aspirations and the proportion of New Zealanders that
share them.
The
National Mood 2003
It's not quite eternal youth, but New Zealand householders seem
to have found a way to maintain their optimism and smooth out
the economic ups and downs. Can businesses learn the critical
lessons in time?
The
National Mood 2004
Things are still going fine, but we're not really getting any
nicer.
Too
High, Too Low or Just Right 2004
New Zealanders are criticised for their lack of aspiration and
vision. But there's nothing wrong with their level of well-being.
Understanding
Post Materialism 2004
Post materialism is what happens when money or the getting of
it begins to lose its lustre. You want more out of life. But WHAT?
What
Makes Well-being 2004
Yes Matilda -
it's love that makes us truly happy. But money helps.
The
Pursuit of Happiness 2004
Greater
personal power and high sustained levels of personal well-being
are translating into a country with proportionately less, not
more, "joie de vivre".
Quality
of Life Index 2004
Windshift's proprietary QOL index