A study of company boards shows most are not prepared to deal with a major crisis such as an earthquake.
Consultancy firm Board Dynamics interviewed more than 30 chairs and chief executives of large private and public companies in New Zealand.
They included Sam Knowles, the founding chief executive of Kiwibank, and Telecom's departing chief executive Paul Reynolds.
It found about 60% of boards lack the skills to deal with a crisis, while only 30% of board chairmen and chairwomen have an excellent relationship with their chief executives.
Board Dynamics managing director Henri Eliot says boards need to look at who they are hiring, to make sure they have the right mix of skills to deal with adversity and crisis.
He says many board members lack expertise, particularly around risk management and disaster recovery, and also business continuity planning for recovery of data and information.
Mr Eliot says part of the search, selection and appointment process needs to ensure that there is a diversity of skills represented in the board room.
He says some larger corporates could have an advisory board that provides that information back to the board as required.
Mr Eliot says the board needs to review its business contingency planning on a regular basis, not just outsource it completely.
He says many organisations have been very ill-prepared, which was evident after the February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch where a lot of people expected to be able to return to their offices to retrieve their computers and set up elsewhere, but by then it was too late.
Mr Eliot says private sector boards are gaining the right skills faster than boards in the public sector.
