Sir Peter Beck: Accountability, Innovation and Battling Bureaucracy

Auckland Unfiltered is a series of sit down chats with the Mayor Wayne Brown. A discussion about the future of Auckland, the challenges, opportunities and vision for the city.

Today we speak with Sir Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab.

Whether you’re building a new road, or a rocket capable of space travel, there are a few fundamentals you have to follow.

What’s the problem you’re trying to solve? And how much are we willing to spend on it?

To be a rocket, it has to fly - otherwise it’s a rock.

To be a bridge, it has to connect places and be load-bearing - otherwise it’s just an expensive art installation.

When we tie ourselves up with too many constraints, endless consultation and engagement, and try pleasing everyone with an opinion – we end up pleasing nobody.

No single project can fix everything, and it shouldn’t try to.

Rocket Lab doesn’t have the luxury of indecision: when you’re competing against the world’s richest men and innovating at the edge of what’s humanly possible, you can’t afford endless consultation and kumbaya.

Instead, you need a culture of constant innovation, accountability and transparency. You need urgency, focus and follow-through - people at the start of a project who see it through to the end.

Government could learn from our brainy rocket engineers.

Start with the problem. Finish what you start. And build things that actually work.

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