A new white paper finds that New Zealand boards face many of the same issues and obstacles as their overseas counterparts, with a number of problems originating in the communications field – such as the collapse of the tech-sector backer Silicon Valley Bank after a bank run triggered by a convoluted, disastrously timed media release.

Titled ‘2023: The Perfect Storm?’ and subtitled ‘23 Habits your Board Should Change in the Era of Polycrisis’, “2023: The Perfect Storm?”  the themes of the white paper tip a hat to the buzzword emerging from this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos.

Polycrisis refers to the rolling maul of global emergencies amid persistent geopolitical and economic instability; the white paper is designed to help boards plan for and grapple effectively with volatility of all kinds.

The white paper observes there are commonalities in bad or unproductive habits among boards, and New Zealand governance follows similar patterns to boards in overseas markets. The common themes which have emerged globally include:

• Failing to develop or adhere to a coherent strategy
• Trying to declare ‘crisis over’ too early
• Acting without sober preparation and planning
• Letting ego into the boardroom
• Favouring short-term results over long-term objectives

Another recent public example of board failings was the case of CEO and founder Simon Henry and the board of his company DGL. Henry and the board were castigated after Henry made offensive and derogatory remarks about a female entrepreneur in a media interview and it took days for the board to condemn his comments.

Analysis of the matter found Henry, as the company’s majority shareholder, had an outsized influence on the board, whose slowness to respond to their CEO-made crisis – which drew comment from the Race Relations Commissioner and the Prime Minister, among others – likely contributed to the company’s subsequent tanked share price and sharemarket delisting.

In the DGL case study a confluence of several of the experts’ 23 habits can be observed: retracting into the boardroom bubble; avoiding difficult conversations or decisions; and not having a disaster plan in place.

Business and governance experts in the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific have contributed their advice and recommendations based on observations gleaned over decades in the commercial, government, and NGO sectors, and all agree now is the time for directors to shake off any bad boardroom habits, address major issues proactively, and sharpen their issues and crisis management skills.

The white paper is conceived and authored by Alexander PR as part of the 50-company Public Relations Global Network (PRGN) and is offering strategic communication advice to boards around the world on how to steer their ships through 2023’s choppy waters.

Structured in three main sections, part one of the white paper explores the 23 common mistakes made by boards, senior executives, and founders in relation to crisis situations – everything from failing to adhere to a strategy to retracting into the boardroom bubble, avoiding difficult conversations, or trying to declare ‘crisis over’ too early.

Part two presents 10 topline solutions for dealing with these habits and issues and averting a crisis, including a sound crisis response in brief for those just coming to grips with crisis management or wanting to check their playbook against current expert advice.

And part three, ‘In the final analysis’, explores nine common themes in crisis management and their solutions: this section looks at codes of ethics, communications, environment scanning, leadership (including media presentation), discipline and internal processes, ESG (environmental, social, and governance), preventing cronyism and nepotism, mitigating ego, and technology.

The aforementioned example of Silicon Valley Bank is precisely the kind of communications “own goal” – as TechCrunch describes it – that the white paper intends to help prevent. The origin story of the collapse of the 16^th largest bank in the United States, which had US$209 billion in assets at the time of its failure on 10 March, was a press release announcing its plan to raise money to shore up its business after some losses and in the face of declining deposits from its start-up customer base.

In the words of TechCrunch, SVB “utterly flubbed some important messaging at the very worse time imaginable.” The SVB press release, issued on a Wednesday, came soon after with the announcement by the crypto bank Silverdale that it was winding down its operations – but it apparently did not occur to SVB’s board or executive that by announcing its plans, after bad industry news, to a client base weighted towards start-ups and venture capital firms, might lead to panic.

Within two days the bank was no longer, and the US federal government has declared it will intervene to shore up customer deposits and stem wider financial fallout.

For Alexander PR co-founder Kate Alexander says, “Our goal in producing this paper was to collate the best advice from the most savvy and experienced people at the intersection of PR and industry, with a mind to the real-world problems and seemingly intractable crises that organisations and leaders are preparing for and dealing with in 2023 – some of which, such as the Silicon Valley Bank crisis, are highly public and seem to onlookers to come out of the blue.

“The circumstances for industry are changing almost by the minute, and we saw there was a need for current, timely advice that takes into account everything people have gone through in the past several years and gives them a reliable crisis and issues playbook to help them through the next phase.

“Although this white paper is being released in a time of uncertainty, on the other side of the pandemic but in the face of a predicted potential global recession, we are congratulating those who are interested in applying the advice to their own leadership. If they have come this far, they deserve acknowledgement for everything they have done right and the resilience they have shown in navigating the turmoil of this century to date.”

David Fuscus, President of PRGN and President and CEO of Xenophon Strategies and the 31st President of the Public Relations Global Network, which has 53 member firms worldwide, says, “With many of our members contributing to the white paper, it has a true global footprint and of-the-minute insights. The hallmarks of the twenty-first century have included destabilising global events that have been sudden and all-encompassing, from 9/11 to the global financial crisis and the COVID pandemic.

Alexander PR co-founder Dwayne Alexander says, “The white paper offers observation, wisdom, and advice from the coalface of businesses around the world, provided by leaders in multiple industries from Australasia to Asia, North and Latin America, and Europe.

“Their takes on some of the absolute must-dos for boards anticipating turbulence are multifaceted and deeply considered, and they have shared their knowledge generously to assist others. Our hope is that leaders and directors find this topical analysis of common mistakes and solutions to avert crisis useful in steering their own ships through choppy waters and coming out stronger.”