Institute of Directors Conference '26 : Expect The Unexpected

Every director of a listed Indian company must pass a mandatory competency exam. Fail it, and you have to leave the board – although the test can be retaken. It was one illustration 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.

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 sits on two listed 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.

India’s governance exam sits at the strict end of a range of board approaches. Singapore companies linked to the country’s sovereign wealth fund may 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 management and helps clear obstacles involving regulators and other stakeholders.

The position attracts three or four times the fees of a conventional chair. Ganu said a fee of around $2 million was not uncommon at a large Singapore company. Hong Kong took another approach in 2024 by requiring listed companies to eliminate single-gender boards.

Geopolitical exposure demands the same attention to local conditions. A pharmaceutical distribution and commercialisation company whose board Ganu serves on has developed detailed scenarios for supply disruption. These identify the supply chains to activate and alternative manufacturers in Western and Asian markets. The board’s work moves geopolitical risk from 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 advised them to become 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 offered another option from one of his own boards. As the company prepared to expand in Korea without a director who understood the market, it was considering appointing a Korea specialist as an independent adviser on an annual retainer. The initial term would be six or 12 months. If both sides found the arrangement valuable, the adviser could then be invited to join the board.

Thinking in decades

McCready connected Ganu’s argument about patient ownership with kaitiakitanga – the concept of stewardship embedded in governance. 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, closely associated with former chief executive Paul Polman, to show why practices need to extend beyond one leader. At Danone, some sustainability practices continued after a change of chief executive, although the emphasis shifted.

Embedding that approach starts with the board, he said. Dutch semiconductor company ASML consistently asks where it will be in 10 or 15 years. Some Asian businesses look further ahead still.

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

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 in fluent English: “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. Of the original companies in the FTSE 100 when the index began in 1984, only 24 were still surviving, he said. 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