Aotearoa, we are facing a deeper recession than the GFC. We all need to take a collective breath. The winds of change are blowing, and more storms may come. Can we harness these winds to move us towards the future we dare to imagine? If the structures around us are disintegrating, what will we build in their place?
Every sector is contracting—hospitality, retail, construction, creative industries. Hardly anyone is untouched. But that means we’re in this together.
It’s time to activate the parts of our “economy” that can thrive now—our time, attention, skills, and insights. Let’s tap into the wealth of cooperation, creativity, healing, and hope that has sustained us for generations.
Yuval Noah Harari reminds us that humanity’s strength lies in our ability to cooperate with strangers on a large scale. Now, we must intentionally activate this to emerge from this collapse with the best of our community and world intact.
Let’s not argue over the constructs that divide us—nation-states, money, ownership—but focus on the truths that unite us: a healthy, flourishing environment, our ability to connect, innovate, and care for one another.
It’s time for some Big Picture Thinking. Our imagination is our greatest tool. If we don’t use it, the collapse will leave a vacuum filled by those who already hold power. But unlike the past, today we have access to global communication, allowing us to generate and spread our own ideas. This power once belonged to kings and elites—now, it belongs to all of us.
“What stories will we tell about this time?” Will we let corporations and politicians define them, or will we—the workers, parents, innovators—shape our own? Can we engage in collective and individual storytelling to help us navigate this transition? Sometimes it helps to back-cast, imagining we’ve already been through it.
What was your story during this time? What did you learn, and what did we let go of as a society? Did we embrace selfishness, or did we lean into cooperation, using our imagination to create better solutions?
While many of us face job loss, disappearing contracts, or AI redundancy, I invite you to carve out time to rest, dream, and connect to new possibilities. Create space to simply feel and listen to what’s emerging. Being creative is a natural antidote to anxiety, which stems from powerlessness and uncertainty. Empower yourself by dreaming, imagining, hoping, and then creating from that space.
But this mindset rarely occurs naturally. I can only acheive this state after the inital fear I feel is digested (emotionally processed) and then I activate some time/space with an intenton (sit, breathe meditate, reflect, question, create). And so If you find yourself spiralling with fear from all the change and uncertainty, I would encourage you to pause, and create some space for yourself.
And if the fear and anxiety feels overwhelming – reach out and connect. We are experiencing this great change together. I think of ‘vulnerability’ as a doorway - if we can let down our defences, then that soft, openness creates new, fertile conditions for something new and wonderful to emerge.
It’s not time for businesses as usual. Its time for something Much more remarkable. but first, we have to go through the valley of darkness. Let’s make sure we are doing that together.
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