We were the “fair go” country. Not perfect, but basically decent. Nobody got too rich without someone taking the mickey. Nobody was left too far behind, because “we look after our own”.

COVID-19 was more than a public health crisis – it was a stress test for how we lead, how we treat people and what our businesses really stand for. In this piece I look back on what the pandemic revealed inside New Zealand SMEs, the difference between ‘Am I OK?’ and ‘Are we OK?’, and why people-centred leadership, culture and values-in-action are now non-negotiable if you want a business that can survive the next wave, whatever form it takes.