Category Archives: Uncategorized

Risk – the forgotten axis

Almost every week another building, usually in Wellington, is evacuated because it’s deemed ‘Earthquake Prone’ and either covered in plastic sheeting or left to rot, while the hapless owners consider how they’ll afford the repairs and strengthening that the engineers have mandated. This week for a change it was the turn of the South Island’sContinue reading “Risk – the forgotten axis”

Three things they don’t teach you at ‘Board Boot Camp’

Nobody’s born a director. We don’t grow into being a governor, the way we do with walking, talking, parenting, or making a success of a job.

Becoming an effective director requires a range of technical, social and communication skills, contributing as one of a group, rather than as individuals.

Over the years, I’ve found that a few things – ways we approach the role – typically aren’t taught, but can make a huge difference …

Before the main course – 

Do you recognise this board? Directors arrive shortly before the scheduled start; you take your places, open your board packs and work your way through the agenda, item by item; as the chair closes the meeting, you shut your pack, gather your iPad and phone, and head to the taxi. Other than exchanging a fewContinue reading “Before the main course – “

The shift we’ve been expecting in Air New Zealand’s strategy?

Has Air New Zealand’s market strategy changed – or is it simply now more obvious? I’ll start by saying that I have been a relatively frequent, usually satisfied, flyer with Air New Zealand for a long time (my Frequent Flyer number has five digits and I’ve accumulated 14 ‘banked years’ of membership). In the lastContinue reading “The shift we’ve been expecting in Air New Zealand’s strategy?”

No such thing as ‘Invisible Leadership’

I usually hesitate to comment on current events, because experience shows that matters are seldom as they appear in the fog of a fast-moving situation. This weekend’s catastrophic storm event in Auckland, however, speaks for itself and calls for an immediate reaction. First, I find it ironic that a Mayor, who was elected on aContinue reading “No such thing as ‘Invisible Leadership’”

Four times twice as much: how the Chair’s job has grown.

The latest edition of the Australian Company Director magazine quotes a senior board chair describing how the role has evolved in recent years: For the mathematically challenged, I think she’s saying that a board chair today has about eight times the typical workload an NED had, only a few years ago.  People unfamiliar with theContinue reading “Four times twice as much: how the Chair’s job has grown.”

Ten minutes that will transform your (Zoom) board meetings

I’d guess that most of us have held more board meetings virtually than in person over the last 18 months. Remote meetings, still a rarity two years ago, are business as usual and here to stay. We’re learning how to make the most of them:  To interpret non-verbal signals (aka body language) from only ourContinue reading “Ten minutes that will transform your (Zoom) board meetings“

The three levels of medalling, in board diversity

Over that inspiring fortnight of distraction, the Tokyo Olympics, two new verbs have joined the mainstream, as in ‘I can’t believe we’ve medalled … we were only aiming to podium at the next Games.’  As those verbs have entrenched themselves in the sports lexicon, so ‘diversity’ has become possibly the most discussed, most abused and most poorly understood term inContinue reading “The three levels of medalling, in board diversity”

When your board member is the subject expert: three hidden traps

How often do we hear boards discussing the type of skills they’d like to attract … ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we had an engineer/micro-biologist/blockchain expert on the board?’ I’m fully in favour of making sure our boards have people with the right skills and experience for the business. We’ve all heard of corporate train-wrecksContinue reading “When your board member is the subject expert: three hidden traps”