The organiser of a Māori in governance summit says Māori need to bring their full selves and whakapapa to the board table.
Tapuwae Roa chief executive Te Pūoho Kātene says this week’s Amorangi summit drew more than 800 people both online and in person at Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington to hear speakers including Tania Simpson, Tina Porou and Pania Newton.
He says there was discussion of how to bring the next generation of leaders through, especially rangatahi who are unapologetic about their identity as Maori.
The application of tikanga Maori can help unwind some of the inherent bias in how business is done.
“The short-termism going year to year or through election cycles of three years, how do we balance that off by making mokopuna decisions, how do we balance the focus on financial returns with the focus on putting our people at the heart of everything we do so there’s things we can do and there’s a lot of value we can add to every board we sit on by wearing our tikanga on our sleeves and applying it to that horopaki or that context we find ourselves in,” Mr Katene says.
