Cover Story
People who matter
by Denis Welch
Listed! The New Zealanders who make a difference, the ones who really get things done. For the third year, we identify the country’s 50 most powerful citizens.
Trying to identify the 50 most powerful people in New Zealand is probably a kind of madness, but the world loves a list, and the Listener seems to have hit the spot with its Power List over the past two years. Not for nothing do the first four letters of our name spell “list”.
Reaction to the last one was wide and varied, not least from regions that felt hard done by because their scions weren’t represented on it. On the other hand, there was the kind of response it got from people like John Key, who marvelled at being ranked ninth most powerful person in the country when he couldn’t even get his kids to do their homework on time.
Readers can be reassured, however, that in publishing these lists we haven’t adjusted for parental status, gender, age, political views or personal domicile; there are no quotas here – and no achieveds, merits or excellences, either.
The art of such a list lies in defining power. Beehive power or boardroom power is reasonably easy to spot, but how many lives does it really affect? Then there’s the far less visible power (or influence, if you like) of the unsung community workers and health professionals who literally save lives every day. In exercising their power, such people empower others – with hope, health, even life.
This year, as last, the selection panel were guided by a definition of power as the “ability to influence and shape people’s lives, lifestyles and values in New Zealand today”. Factors considered under this rubric were:
– Economic influence: for instance, the kind the Reserve Bank Governor or the Finance Minister has.
– Political influence: ministers of the government of the day will always have this, in varying degree, but so can opposition politicians, mayors, public servants, lobbyists and campaigners.
– Social influence: fashion designers, judges, journalists and TV producers, among others, can all affect the way we think and behave.
– Cultural influence: from the haka on the rugby field to the Hotere on the gallery wall.
– National influence: what we feel about ourselves as New Zealanders, our sense of national identity.
In considering the case for each candidate (and they were legion) the panel also kept in mind the questions: what would New Zealand be like if this person wasn’t around? Would there be a sense of a gap that no one else could fill?
No one got on the list by virtue of being a “celebrity”. No one got on if their influence was considered wholly negative. And no one got on just because they occupied a powerful position: they had to have transcended the position in some way. In the latter regard, it’s worth noting that only three Cabinet members (Helen Clark, Michael Cullen and Trevor Mallard) made the list.
One difference to last year, when foreign-born people were ruled out of contention. This time round, the panel felt that “foreigners” such as Andrew Ferrier (Canadian) and Paula Rebstock (American) had done enough to qualify as dinkum Kiwis.
Incredibly, the final list – names and ranking – was arrived at by consensus, after a long day’s discussion. No throats were torn out in the making of this list.
Power Panel
Sharon Henderson Group Managing Director of DDB New Zealand
Stephen Franks Chapman Tripp lawyer and former Act MP
Pauline Kingi Regional Director of Te Puni Kokiri’s Tamaki Makaurau office
Jane Clifton Listener political columnist
Christopher Doig Chair of Creative NZ and board member of SPARC
Jacqueline Rowarth Foundation Chair of pastoral agriculture at Massey University (from January)
Sarah Sandley General Manager Advertising Sales & Marketing for APN NZ and former Listener publisher
Andy Hamilton CEO of The IceHouse (International Centre for Entrepreneurship) at the University of Auckland Business School
1 – Helen Clark {Prime Minister}
LAST YEAR: 1
There was a moment – just a few seconds, really – when this year’s Power List selection panel contemplated the idea that Helen Clark no longer deserved to be No 1. Briefly, the walls of Helengrad trembled. Then the moment passed, and the panel regained its senses. Of course she still had the most power. There could be no doubt about it. No more calls, please, we have a winner.
But there has been doubt about Clark this year – probably the shakiest year she has had as PM. As columnist Colin James says, a government starts with a stock of political capital that it consumes over time, and after seven years in office this government’s capital is running low. Not used to being behind in the polls, perhaps, Clark has been uncharacteristically defensive and, at times, plain destructive. Calling Don Brash a cancerous influence was way out of line. And her graceless antics over the payback of election campaign overspending – culminating in an attack on the integrity of Auditor-General Kevin Brady (who rockets into the list at No 13 for standing up to Clark) – suggests judgment wobble if not power fatigue. But Clark didn’t get where she is by not being a very astute politician, and with National still hesitating over its leadership, a process that seems to have been going on for donkey’s years – or at least John Key’s years – she has every opportunity yet to strengthen her grip on power and the Power List.
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