Institute of Directors Conference '26 : Expect The Unexpected

India requires every director of a listed company to pass a mandatory competency examination. Directors of listed companies in Malaysia and Singapore must undertake mandatory sustainability training. These were two illustrations of governance adviser Shai Ganu’s broader warning to New Zealand businesses: there is no such thing as a single Asian market.

Ownership structures, regulation and business culture vary widely across the region. A practice accepted in one market may be irrelevant or inconsistent with doing business in another.

Those differences often begin with ownership. Many companies in China, Southeast Asia and India have a controlling family shareholder or sovereign wealth fund behind them. That concentration of ownership produces different expectations of boards and management from markets where shareholdings are widely distributed among institutions. It can also support longer decision-making horizons and a stronger emphasis on stewardship.

Ganu made the comments at the 2026 Institute of Directors Leadership Conference in Wellington. His presentation, sponsored by the Asia New Zealand Foundation, included a Q&A session facilitated by ANZF Director of Business and Entrepreneurship Tim McCready.

Shai Ganu, Asia-based rewards and governance consultant with Willis Towers Watson, and keynote speaker at this years conference/Image IoD

Based in Singapore, Ganu leads WTW’s global Board Advisory & Executive Compensation practice, with around 450 consultants across 45 countries. He also serves as an independent director on listed and private company boards in Singapore, giving him direct experience of the ownership structures and business practices he discussed.

One region, many models

Ganu began with the pace of change facing businesses everywhere. Directors and executives have been conditioned to use the past to predict the future, an approach he believes is becoming less reliable. Earlier, another conference speaker, Shelly Palmer, had demonstrated AI completing six months of work in about five minutes – an example of the non-linear change confronting established planning assumptions.

The Indian examination sits at the more prescriptive end of a range of board approaches. Some Singapore companies use an “active chairman”: an independent, non-executive chair who works from an office beside the chief executive’s, effectively full time. The chair coaches and mentors management and helps with engagement involving regulators and other stakeholders.

The position attracts significantly higher fees than a conventional chair role. Hong Kong has taken another approach, with listing rules prohibiting single-gender boards since 2024. Each example reflects the regulatory environment and governance expectations of its particular market.

Geopolitical exposure demands the same attention to local conditions. Ganu described a distribution and logistics business that had developed detailed scenarios for supply disruption. These identified alternative suppliers and manufacturers across Eastern and Western markets. The board’s work moved geopolitical risk from general discussion to a set of operational choices.

Building Asia literacy

McCready asked what New Zealand companies could do to prepare for expansion into Asia. Ganu stressed the importance of becoming more Asia literate, using study tours and company visits to understand how individual markets work. He also encouraged businesses to seek help from the Asia New Zealand Foundation.

Tim McCready (L) speaking with Shai Nadu / image IoD

Relationship capital carries greater weight in Asian markets, he said, although its use differs between India, Singapore and Japan. A company with a substantial Asian presence could appoint an Asia-based director who contributes local connections as well as expertise. Advisory panels and independent advisers offer another route.

Directors can also put their own networks to work. Ganu recalled helping a company seeking business in Japan by introducing its chair to the chief executive of a company whose board he served on. The introduction led to what he described as a lucrative deal for both parties.

He shared another example involving a company preparing to expand into Korea without a director who understood the market. It was considering retaining a Korea specialist as an independent adviser for six or 12 months. If both sides found the arrangement valuable, the adviser could then be invited to join the board.

The Wellington event attracted company directors from around the country / Image IoD

McCready connected Ganu’s argument about patient ownership with kaitiakitanga – the concept of stewardship embedded in governance. He asked how companies without a permanent controlling shareholder could maintain the same long view. Ganu said there was a strong correlation between ownership structures and corporate stewardship: many companies known for long-term thinking have patient capital or a permanent owner behind them.

Companies with widely distributed ownership can still take the long view. Ganu pointed to Unilever’s detailed sustainability scorecard and its association with former chief executive Paul Polman. Lasting stewardship, he argued, needs to extend beyond one leader and begins with the board.

The board is also the custodian of corporate culture, Ganu said. Directors decide who is appointed to which role, what behaviours are valued and what performance is rewarded. Those choices shape whether an organisation can sustain its purpose and approach through leadership changes.

Some Asian businesses look generations ahead. Ganu recalled presenting to a Japanese board whose chair sat silently through an hour-long session delivered with live translation. At the end, the chair asked: “This is all fine. Where’s your 100-year plan?” Ganu had never been asked that question before.

He closed by asking whether a company wanted to become a Fortune 500 business or a 500-year-old one. The choice would produce different decisions, he said, and the second represented genuine stewardship and long-term thinking.

Ganu drew on Simon Sinek’s book The Infinite Game, which defines success as continuing to play. For New Zealand businesses considering Asia, his question offers a demanding test of intent: “Do you want to be a Fortune 500 company or a 500-year-old company?”

Asia Media Centre