{"id":165919,"date":"2025-12-03T11:20:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T11:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/165919\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T11:20:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T11:20:18","slug":"deloitte-top-200-ai-trust-and-succession-the-new-challenges-for-board-chairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/165919\/","title":{"rendered":"Deloitte Top 200: AI, trust and succession \u2013 the new challenges for board chairs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Managing director Neil Paviour-Smith says the role of a board chair has never been more demanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the current economic climate marked by a sluggish domestic economy, geopolitical instability, and shifting capital markets, there\u2019s a clear challenge for board chairs in balancing discipline and ambition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is imperative to be clear about the strategic ambition, ensuring the chair doesn\u2019t let the business retreat from long-term value creation.<\/p>\n

\u201cManagement will be under pressure dealing with day-to-day operations and market expectations in the prevailing conditions. The chair can play a key role in helping management look to the horizon, balancing the short-term pressures and also helping consider whether there are counter-cyclical opportunities in pursuit of the longer-term goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

This balancing act means resisting the temptation to cut too deeply or delay investments that underpin future growth.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is already reshaping the workplace, automating routine tasks and freeing employees to focus on higher-value work.<\/p>\n

Paviour-Smith believes AI is reshaping governance in profound ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI will add further to the firm\u2019s risk assessment with challenges such as misinformation, data ethics and technological literacy, as well as broader transformation issues and competitive threats,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the other hand, there is a bigger risk that the opportunities presented by AI are not taken up due to an overly conservative risk posture.\u201d<\/p>\n

His observation is that boards tend to rush to develop AI policies, usually with a risk focus, but are less minded to push for employees to start using AI and finding new ways of operating.<\/p>\n

\u201cA chair might ensure there is board discussion scheduled on AI [adoption and risks] at each board meeting in the years to come as the technology continues to develop at pace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NeilNeil Paviour-Smith. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

Building trust through leadership<\/p>\n

Recent surveys indicate that business remains the most trusted institution in the country, while trust in the Government, NGOs and media is generally declining and falling into \u201cdistrust\u201d territory.<\/p>\n

The Acumen Edelman Trust Barometer 2025<\/a> reports that trust is lowest among younger people, M\u0101ori and regional communities.<\/p>\n

Paviour-Smith says chairs play a crucial role in creating and reinforcing trust through authentic leadership and transparency.<\/p>\n

\u201cPractically, there are some key behaviours that help achieve this. Consistency of decision-making and communications, being personally visible with stakeholders, genuine listening and responsiveness, fronting into the difficult decisions and transparency around both achievements and lessons learned can all strengthen credibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Succession planning<\/p>\n

Another issue for board chairs is how to implement successful succession planning and develop future leaders for future challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuccession planning is sometimes organised as though it\u2019s more of an event, as opposed to an ongoing process of leadership renewal, with an understanding of internal and external options before necessity arises,\u201d Paviour-Smith said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat would the plan be for sudden change with the leadership team, including the board? Ideally, succession would be considered across the wider board and leadership group to optimise timing to the extent feasible. Actively exposing potential successors to challenge early is insightful \u2013 particularly creating cross-functional experience that builds judgment, adaptability, and a deeper understanding of the organisation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe board\u2019s role is not only to plan for transition but to actively develop leadership readiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The awards<\/p>\n

The Deloitte Top 200 Awards were established in 1990 and are held annually to recognise and applaud outstanding individual and management team performances among New Zealand\u2019s largest companies and trading organisations.<\/p>\n

All the Deloitte Top 200 winners will be revealed at a gala event on December 4. The event will be live-streamed from 7pm on the NZ Herald website.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s winner of the Chairperson of the Year award was Jan Dawson.<\/p>\n

2025 Chairperson of the Year finalists \u2013 Sponsored by Forsyth Barr<\/p>\n

James Miller<\/p>\n

\"JamesJames Miller.<\/p>\n

Pip Greenwood<\/p>\n

\"PipPip Greenwood.<\/p>\n

Peter McBride<\/p>\n

\"FonterraFonterra chairman Peter McBride. Photo \/ NZMEStay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Managing director Neil Paviour-Smith says the role of a board chair has never been more demanding. \u201cWith the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[78777,365,95,363,364,35435,2372,56156,9084,5199,44547,2035,92472,2082,8559,5345,130,117,111,139,69,108361,3599,8601,14939,145,223,165,3010,9438],"class_list":["post-165919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-78777","tag-ai","tag-and","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-becomes","tag-board","tag-chairs","tag-challenges","tag-complex","tag-corporate","tag-deloitte","tag-dramatically","tag-for","tag-governance","tag-increase","tag-more","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-responsibilities","tag-roles","tag-seeing","tag-succession","tag-technology","tag-the","tag-their","tag-top","tag-trust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}