Introducing the Intergen Board

What difference does a Board make?

Good governance and a robust business model are imperative.

Intergen is pleased to have recently appointed its first Independent Director to the Intergen Board. Richard Westlake joins Intergen’s Board of Directors, Tony Stewart, Paddy Payne, Wayne Forgesson and Chris Auld, and brings invaluable directorial experience and a fresh external perspective to the Board table.

We caught up with Richard to ask him about the contribution a Board makes to an organisation, what it is there to do and how an independent director plays a part. We learn that mistakes are compulsory and how “a few grey hairs” can make all the difference.

What difference does a Board make to an organisation?

A Board is there to give management and owners greater confi dence. We’re there to agree strategies, how we are going to get there, and then hold management accountable. The Board’s role is to build tomorrow’s company out of today’s and be ready for tomorrow. How good you have been in the past is irrelevant.

We look at how we are positioned, what the trends are, what the risks are and then think through the possible scenarios and how we will react. What a lot of Boards lose sight of is that we’re all in the same waka trying to paddle in the same direction. Often in an organisation there can be a ‘collective inevitability.’ It’s a Board’s role to test organisational thinking, question if there is a better way of doing something and recognise if we’re stuck in a train of thought.

Having a Board isn’t just about having a talkfest. We need to ask ourselves, “Is the company better off for having had a meeting today? How have we helped empower the CEO to do what needs to be done?”

I once worked with a man who made a vast fortune and until we formed a Board around him his biggest fear was making a mistake and losing everything. Once there was a Board in place, with people he could bounce ideas off, this was a weight off his shoulders. That’s what a Board is there to do.

What value does an Independent Director bring to a Board? What do you bring to Intergen?

Perhaps the greatest value I bring is that I’m not an IT professional. I bring the independence of someone who is not too close to the family, so to speak. I’ve had experience in a broad range of businesses. I’ve seen the pitfalls and made mistakes along the way – which is important – and can say, “I’ve seen this before; let’s not do that.” I bring the advantage of a few grey hairs.

By coming from the ‘outside,’ I also have a sense of how the organisation is being seen without such a vested interest, and can see plain business opportunities and issues without being ‘close in the weeds.’

This is the role of an Independent Director, to provide a level of oversight, apply a commonsense overlay and a reality check. I’m there as a sounding board to the rest of the Board.

Why are mistakes so important?

When you always get things right, nothing changes. When things go wrong, you have life experience and learnings. The New Zealand psyche seems very intolerant of failure. I prefer the American approach to failure, where if you get rich one more time than you go broke, you’re okay.

In New Zealand you see Directors who have had spectacular failures and they become untouchable, when really they may be the ones who can provide the greatest value to a Board.

In your opinion, how is the economic downturn affecting New Zealand businesses?

Now is a time of tremendous opportunity. When you think about it, most fortunes start in times like these. I’ve always been a glass three quarters full sort of person. There will be life after this, and 95% of companies won’t go broke.

There’s a saying, ‘Even a dead fish can swim downstream.’ If a company has a good business model and runs in a cost effective manner, this is just a part of life. Times like these sort out those who can manage and those who can’t, and it’s a great time to sort out competitors and focus on increasing productivity.

ABOUT RICHARD WESTLAKE MA (OXON), AFINSTD, FNZIM

Richard has more than 15 years’ experience as a Director and Board Chairman. In addition
to Richard’s directorship with Intergen, he is Chairman of the Standards Council of New Zealand and of the New Zealand Telecommunications Carriers’ Forum. He has also been an Independent Director of Kiwibank since its establishment in 2001.

Richard is Director of Westlake Consulting Limited, advising on organisational governance, strategy and board management relations.