As the excitement of the All Blacks historic back to back victory in the Rugby World Cup begins to fade, are there lessons we who have adopted the sport as our national game will retain?

Critically, the value a country realises as a result of its participation in such an event will be governed by the impact it has on the national ‘psyche’ – as opposed to the net change in a nation’s ‘economy’ as a result of hosting an event due to job growth and direct spend from tourism.

For this reason, the benefits of winning such a tournament can be greater than that realised by a host nation given the sizeable cost difference between the two.

Although the All Blacks would be unlikely to say it, is it possible that the best way we could repay them for representing us so well is to lift our own game irrespective of what we do for a living?

For example, if companies were able to leverage the win in order to shift their performance and productivity, what difference would it make to our economy and the country as a whole?

As Paul Conway, Director Economics and Research at the New Zealand Productivity Commission, continues to remind us, New Zealand needs to up its game if we are to improve our standard of living.

To do this however, we need more New Zealanders to think about the value of their contribution rather than assuming it’s immaterial and doesn’t make any difference.

Needless to say, the value we realise as a nation could be more than a temporary feel good; it could be the start of something considerably greater.

One lesson the AB’s demonstrated so convincingly – which we would benefit reflecting on – is that we each have the ability to deliver better outcomes for we each have the ability to work on ourselves and as a consequence, become more than what we were before.

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