Chester Borrows: Back-to-school lessons for all

Mix it up: Successful boards need a mix of genders, ages and skills among their members. Photo/file

I have been back to school a few times in my life, and I found myself there again this week, albeit it a very fancy school in a hotel in Queenstown and having spent several thousand of my hard-earned dollars for the privilege.

It was a company directors' course, run by the Institute of Directors, and I felt very much like I was back in the third form (Year 9 for those under 40).

I was blown out of the water by the brainy kids who were chief financial officers and experienced chief executives of big companies, and there was a range of people from massive construction firms employing hundreds to small NGOs who were volunteers and just wanted to make a better contribution.

Recent research has shown that having a diverse range of personalities and skills on a board make for running the best companies, charities, trusts or enterprises, whether they sell widgets, build skyscrapers, run cities or patch people up who struggle through life and make not a cent.

Boards with women on them generally succeed at a higher rate than those with only stale, pale males around the table. A range of ages is important and there is space for the quite young and those with a few miles on the clock.

Not all skills sought are about business acumen or accounting practices. Gone are the days when all boards of directors were accountants and lawyers whose only ability and experience was in making money.

For example, having people on a board who really know their community is a key to success, as is having people who know well the target market for the product or service the board is involved with.

The director with skills in forming relationships, lobbying authorities and a good network of contacts gives an edge and brings knowledge that money can't buy. And it is dangerous to operate when there is no understanding of the parameters and rules by which companies and entities need to operate or without knowing when things are on a slide and there isn't enough money to pay the bills, let alone staff or shareholders.

Going back to school at 60 has reinforced a few home truths. Nobody is really, really good at everything, but everyone is good at something.

That feeling of standing around on the first day knowing nobody and wondering if you have made the right decision by turning up never fades. Bowling up to somebody and making an introduction is the best way to get over the nerves because others are just as relieved to feel comfortable in a foreign setting.

I have had it reinforced on many occasions that the world — and not just New Zealand — is small, and connections can be made in a room full of strangers very quickly.

I have also found that, despite spending 20 years knocking around in the quite cynical world of politics, not everybody has an angle on life — in fact, very few people have. They are not solely interested in pushing a barrow loaded with self-interest; they work very hard for their fellow travellers.

And the biggest lesson is that we are never too old to learn, and we have a duty to keep our minds open for opportunities to know new stuff if we want our communities to be successful.

Imagine if every adult took it upon themselves to learn something on a regular basis — what a much more enlightened world we could be living in. To learn a new skill or just read a book about a people, period in history, or discipline that we know nothing about, would raise the understanding of us collectively and destroy so many barriers that separate us and keep us ignorant.

We have a duty to learn and understand and we all can, regardless of how clever we are ... or how dumb we may feel.

Chester Borrows

■ Chester Borrows served as Whanganui MP for 12 years and as a minister in the National Government.