David Altena, recently re-interviewed by the National Business Review, will present an update to his 2023 productivity research. David completed his research into the failing productivity of New Zealand businesses, and identified a four part model for how undeveloped leadership, planning and execution disciplines are a major contributor to New Zealand falling behind. David is now changing the language from “productivity is a national issue” to “high performance is New Zealand’s greatest opportunity”. Business performance is built from what owners directly control — leadership, financial clarity, customers, people and execution. When enough businesses lift these foundations, entire regions lift. When regions lift, New Zealand lifts. That’s why collaboration around performance creates a regional and national ambition.
David brings three decades of experience across technology, advisory and commercial leadership. His MBA research into New Zealand's productivity challenge highlighted a consistent business level issue: performance improvement often stalls not because technology is unavailable, but because leadership, planning and execution disciplines are underdeveloped. David leads the development of The Better SMB improvement system and performance intelligence offerings along with the partner led go to market model that enables chambers and ecosystem partners to deploy them at scale. His focus is helping businesses build clarity of direction, operating discipline and accountability so improvement becomes practical, measurable, and repeatable.