Key’s tarnished crown

Written By: - Date published: 8:27 am, March 9th, 2012 - 13 comments
Categories: john key, leadership - Tags:

I only recall ever picking up Management magazine once. It was back in 2009, I think, and John Key was on the cover. The article was like Playboy for managers, porn for stuffed suits. Breathless adoration of their god-king. Now, even the capitalist class is waking up to the fact that they’ve been taken by the greatest con man in the country. That’s if the latest edition is anything to go by.

“Will John Key rise to the occasion, not just competently but inspirationally? Does he look like a leader determined to deliver us the promised land?”

….

“Key’s ego is overt. And generally, inflated egos and political leadership are constant companions. More relevant is whether or not he has a vision for New Zealand. If he has,he has steadfastly refused to share it. That’s usually a bad sign but, again, it’s prevalent in political leaders.

Key’s disinclination to share his vision suggests a lack of willingness to commit and reluctance to be honest about future intentions. That in turn suggests a leadership approach based on knowing what’s best,and believing that what’s best is not for sharing.

That’s strange, because principled and well-articulated visions generally stand up to scrutiny. And great visions are worth defending. The best leaders even use them to inspire people to help realise the dream.

These are complicated times. The issues confronting nations like ours are complex. Great leaders have the capacity to distil and explain issues, and to take the team with them. Key seems to have a strong personal following.He could probably sell his vision if he had one and he believed it was truly worth pursuing. The fact that he doesn’t, suggests a leadership strategy based more on expedience than inspiration”

Kind of reads like someone writing about all the faults of their ex, eh? You know, the faults that their mates saw all along but couldn’t make them see.

If only a few more thousand people had fallen out of love four months back – we wouldn’t be facing asset sales and all the rest of National’s rightwing agenda  today*

h/t Annette King at Red Alert

*(Labour needed to take 5905 votes from National to take a seat off them. Yes, we would still have a Nat-ACT-UF-Maori government but it would have no majority without the Maori Party, so no asset sales etc.)

13 comments on “Key’s tarnished crown ”

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  1. Colonial Viper 1
    9 March 2012 at 8:50 am

    Life for Key is getting tougher, fast. Shame these managment mag types are so easily initially impressed by a flash of Wall St bling though. Newsflash dudes: being able to score a couple of extra basis points of yield does not mean you understand how an economy works.

    • aerobubble 1.1
      9 March 2012 at 12:12 pm

      Labour, Greens have the power to frustrate parliament over asset sales, force every vote for example to a one member vote instead of those party votes that happen all the time. Key knows the left well enough to know they won’t stand up to him, and let him talk about his wife and moggie.

    • M 1.2
      9 March 2012 at 9:22 pm

      ‘Life for Key is getting tougher, fast.

      Please let it be true CV, from where I sit there are still plenty of Key arselickers “But, but, he’s a money man – so of course he knows what to do. We are borrowing 300 million a week and something meeds to be done.” This was the response that I got to a criticism about Key by a guy who has lost his job, has a wife and two kids to support and has been reduced to working part-time three days per week delivering junk mail pamphlets to kids to distribute. Wonder if he’ll still think the same way in two years’ time.

  2. marsman 2
    9 March 2012 at 9:09 am

    ” reluctance to be honest about future intentions” = a reluctance to be honest = a liar. Key was a liar from the word go and many many people were very aware of that but daft Media like Management, the DomPost et al painted him as a fucking ‘saviour’ from an ‘evil’ Government which was actually working for the people.

  3. Blue 3
    9 March 2012 at 9:12 am

    I shudder to imagine what Management magazine’s ‘promised land’ would look like. It can only be a good thing if we are not led there.

    Giving oxygen to right-wingers who think Key is not right-wing enough.

  4. Lanthanide 4
    9 March 2012 at 11:25 am

    Management magazine? Reminds me so much of “Meeting magazine” from 30 Rock. I guess that’s where the joke comes from.

  5. john k 5
    9 March 2012 at 11:46 am

    yeah but keys only a two chair meeting man

    • McFlock 5.1
      9 March 2012 at 1:20 pm

      Three chairs if he’s meeting Brownlee.
         
      Yeah, cheap shot. But I’m a bit tetchy today, so any chuckle in a storm. 

  6. Ordinary_Bloke 6
    9 March 2012 at 12:20 pm

    “Key’s disinclination to share his vision suggests a lack of willingness to commit and reluctance to be honest about future intentions.”

    .. or it could imply an intention to bail out half way through his term after front-loading unpopular
    ‘reforms’ and letting his successor deal with them.

  7. tc 7
    9 March 2012 at 12:57 pm

    It’s Joyce they need to be focusing on, he’s cutting the really nasty deals.

    key as always is just the sideshow clown distracting from the Emporer cutting the deals before he inherits the big chair, that’s why he can’t answer any serious questions…..plausible deniability.

    • marsman 7.1
      9 March 2012 at 1:09 pm

      tc. Exactly, Sneaky Steven is setting up all sorts of scams and arrogantly dismissing any criticism. A thouroughly nasty Hollow Man who is intent on inflicting plenty of harm on as many people as possible. May he not last long.

  8. BLiP 8
    10 March 2012 at 5:10 am

    John Key has got “middle management” written all over him . . . he couldn’t be CEO of a bicycle track. Butr there he is, Prime Minister. Sad, innit?.

  9. KJT 9
    10 March 2012 at 11:00 am

    Management Magazine is usually pretty good. 
    Not as RW as you would expect.
    Articles on sustainable business, Green growth, Looking after your workers and other (Leftish perspectives) are common.
    Recently the magazine has been very scathing about NZ managers who only know how to cost cut and incompetent directors.
    Also a very balanced article on the lack of a business case for asset sales.