A professional director's view : interview with Kerry McDonald, President of the New Zealand Institute of Directors (2009-2010)

In an interview, Kerry McDonald, president of the New Zealand Institute of Directors, talked about the issues in corporate governance. According to McDonald, from a New Zealand perspective, but also with an eye on the US and UK, and to a lesser extent Australia, for him the overriding issue is that boards and directors are not providing consistently strong leadership that adds value to businesses. The second major issue is weak boards and poor board performance. His view is that the board is a team, and that such teams need to be carefully crafted. A good director must have a very good general knowledge of the business world, strong specific industry knowledge, and a very good skills base, including strategy, risk, judgment about people and decision-making. Good boardroom practice copes with challenges. If you go through cycles and different situations you may put a bit more emphasis on one thing or another, but a good board has a very sound foundation in good practice.