Westlake Governance Limited is excited to announce our partnership with Australian firm Peakstone Global Pty Limited. Together we can provide even more comprehensive governance, risk and compliance solutions to our customers.

We build boards into leading teams

Westlake Governance helps organisations and their leaders understand what good governance is and how to achieve it. Our vast practical experience means solutions that work.

DEVELOP

DEVELOP

Our development programmes help chairs, boards, CEOs and leadership teams build their skills and confidence to govern more effectively.

FOCUS

FOCUS

As a trusted advisor to your board, we help you focus on what matters most. We bring an exceptional understanding of governance principles overlaid with years of experience.

REVIEW

REVIEW

We help boards review and benchmark their performance so they can continually fine-tune how they operate and add even greater value.

Why Work With Us

Richard's Blog on Chairing the Board

Richard Westlake's blog is chairingtheboard.com, he informally calls it ‘CHAFTROU – chairing, for the rest of us.’ We hope it’ll become a useful reference tool for chairs and experienced board members of all those thousands of organisations, of all sizes, for which we share the privilege and challenge of providing governance leadership, control and oversight. Richard says "I don't expect everyone to agree with everything I say, but if I’ve started you thinking, then I think I’ve done my job."

The shift we’ve been expecting in Air New Zealand’s strategy?

Has Air New Zealand’s market strategy changed – or is it simply now more obvious? I’ll start by saying that I have been a relatively frequent, usually satisfied, flyer with Air New Zealand forRead more

No such thing as ‘Invisible Leadership’

Photo: RNZ / Katie ToddRead more

Four times twice as much: how the Chair’s job has grown

The latest edition of the Australian Company Director magazine quotes a senior board chair describing how the role has evolved in recent years: ‘Where once the rule of thumb was that the chair didRead more

Ten minutes that will transform your (Zoom) board meetings

Read more

The three levels of medalling, in board diversity

Over that inspiring fortnight of distraction, the Tokyo Olympics, two new verbs have joined the mainstream, as in ‘I can’t believe we’ve medalled... we were only aiming to podium at the nextRead more

When your board member is the subject expert: three hidden traps

How often do we hear boards discussing the type of skills they’d like to attract … ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we had an engineer/micro-biologist/blockchain expert on the board?’ I’m fullyRead more

When the Chair wants to become the Boss

Last week the New Zealand Herald revealed that, among candidates for the chief executive’s role at Greater Wellington Regional Council, the current Council Chair Daran Ponter had thrown his hatRead more

The (other) Rule of Six – and the mistake we make in using it

Last week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson introduced the ‘Rule of Six,’ limiting gatherings to six people, in order to slow the spread of Covid-19. This brought to mind the older ‘Six BlRead more

The Four Levels of Board Maturity … and what you need to do about yours

Some people tower over their profession: Albert Einstein – physical sciences, Chuck Yeager – test flying, Florence Nightingale – nursing (and statistics – check her out). In corporateRead more

Who saw that coming? The A.R.T. of Risk Governance

I don’t suppose any of us fully anticipated what we, and the rest of the world, have experienced in these last few months.  Most of our boards have well considered and often colourful riskRead more

Richard's Book On Governance

Richard Westlake has written a timely book on what makes good governance, published by the World Bank's Global Corporate Governance Forum. While Guidance for the Directors of Banks is directly relevant to the banking environment, its principles and guidance have much wider application. You can download a free PDF version of here.

What Our Clients Say

He’s a trusted advisor who takes the results and helped me work through the ‘so what?’ That’s where the real value is.”

Ian Fitzgerald, Chair Public Trust, Director World of Wearable Arts

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