Boardcraft - The Essence of High-Performing Boards
Description
IMPORTANT - REGISTRATION
Boardcraft is a paid programme. Humanitix is being used to provide information about the programme and register expressions of interest only.
Programme fee: NZD $1,735 + GST per participant.
To request a place and complete your registration, please visit boardcraft.catoltd.com.
Completing the free Humanitix registration does not reserve or confirm a place.
https://boardcraft.catoltd.com/
The paper is incomplete. The decision can’t wait.
Board decisions rarely arrive with perfect information.
Management may want an answer. Risk may be material. Directors may disagree. Assumptions may need to be challenged. And ultimately, the board still has to decide.
Boardcraft is designed for those moments.
Rather than another qualification-led governance programme, Boardcraft is a practical capability-building lab focused on how boards actually work when judgement, accountability, challenge and decision-making matter.
Across 1.5 days, Dr Peter Crow will work with a small cohort through discussion, practical cases and a crisis simulation designed to examine the realities of operating at and around the board table.
Who is Boardcraft for?
Boardcraft is designed for:
Current directors who want to strengthen their effectiveness around the board table
CEOs and senior executives who regularly report to or work with boards
Experienced leaders preparing for their first board appointment
Executives whose roles require stronger understanding of board-level judgement, challenge and accountability
What will you work on?
The programme explores practical board capability including:
Reading beyond the paper
How strong directors interrogate information, identify what may be missing and ask better questions before reaching a decision.
Judgement and decision-making
How boards approach difficult decisions when the information available is incomplete, uncertain or contested.
Constructive challenge
How directors test assumptions and challenge management while maintaining an effective board–executive relationship.
Accountability around the board table
Understanding where responsibility sits and what good decision processes look like when the stakes are high.
Board dynamics
How behaviour, relationships and different perspectives influence the quality of boardroom discussion and decisions.
Crisis conditions
A practical simulation that puts judgement, communication and board dynamics under pressure.
Why Boardcraft?
There are many excellent programmes that teach governance frameworks, duties and qualifications.
Boardcraft serves a different purpose.
It is not a qualification. It is practice for the room.
The emphasis is on applying judgement in realistic board situations - working through the ambiguity, competing perspectives and imperfect information that directors and senior executives encounter in practice.
The programme is intentionally limited to 30 participants to preserve the quality of discussion and interaction.
Facilitator
Dr Peter Crow is an experienced board adviser, governance practitioner and researcher who has worked extensively with boards and senior leadership teams.
His work focuses on board effectiveness, governance practice, strategy and the realities of decision-making around the board table.
Programme details
Dates: Wednesday 14 Thursday - 15 October 2026
Venue: The Northern Club, Auckland
Format: In-person only
Facilitator: Dr Peter Crow
Price per participant: $1,735 +GST
Capacity: Maximum 30 participants
If you sit at the board table, regularly report to one, or expect governance to form part of the next stage of your leadership career, Boardcraft is designed to help you prepare for the situations where the quality of your judgement matters most.
FAQs
- What is Boardcraft?
Boardcraft is a 1.5-day, in-person capability-building Lab for directors and senior executives, led by Dr Peter Crow. It runs in Auckland on 14–15 October 2026, with a cohort limited to 30 participants. - Who is Boardcraft designed for?
Current company directors, aspiring directors with significant executive experience, board committee members, C-suite executives, senior executives who report directly to boards, founders of growing companies, family-business leaders, and senior professionals preparing for governance roles.
- Do I need to already be a director?
No. Boardcraft is built for people who sit at the board table, report directly to boards, work closely with boards, or are credibly moving toward governance roles — not only current directors.
- Is Boardcraft suitable for someone new to governance?
Boardcraft is not designed as an introduction to governance. The cohort is deliberately kept small and comparable in seniority, and the value of the room depends on the experience and candour of everyone in it.
- Is this board director training?
Not in the conventional sense. Boardcraft is capability-building rather than training — it is built to change what participants do in the room: how they frame a decision, ask the questions that matter, and hold a position under challenge.
- What will I learn?
Participants strengthen their judgement when information is incomplete, the questions that expose what actually matters, board–executive dynamics, strategic oversight without drifting into management, constructive challenge and productive disagreement, decision-making under pressure, and confidence and clarity when the stakes are high.
- Who is Peter Crow?
Dr Peter Crow, CMInstD, is an accredited director and chair who has served on private, PE-controlled, and family-business boards, and advised boards, chairs, institutional investors, and governments. He holds a doctorate in corporate governance and strategy and is a chartered member of the Institute of Directors.
- What format does the programme use?
It runs across 1.5 days in person, built around seven disciplined sessions, one continuous boardroom case study, and one crisis scenario, plus a facilitated programme dinner on the evening of Day One.
- What happens during the case and crisis work?
Participants work through a single continuous boardroom case across the 1.5 days, testing assumptions, asking questions, and making decisions as new information and a crisis scenario develop.
- Where is it held?
The Northern Club, Auckland, on 14–15 October 2026.
- What is included in the price?
The price of NZD 1,735 + GST per participant covers participation in all seven sessions across the 1.5 days, arrival coffee, catering and refreshment breaks on both days, and the Day One programme dinner.
- Is Boardcraft suitable for executives who report to boards, not just directors?
Yes. Session 3, on boardroom dynamics and the board–executive relationship, is a core focus specifically for executives who report to boards, alongside directors and other senior participants.
- Why is the cohort limited to 30?
A small, comparable-seniority cohort is what makes the discussion candid and the peer value real — Boardcraft is deliberately curated rather than run at scale.
- How is this different from a conventional governance course?
Boardcraft is run as a single continuous working room with one facilitator, one case study, and one crisis scenario across 1.5 days, rather than a series of lectures or a rotating speaker panel. The emphasis is on changing behaviour in the boardroom, not adding to a folder of notes.
- How do I register?
Places are limited to a cohort of 30. Request a place via the form below or by emailing info@catoltd.com — CATO confirms fit before a place is secured.
- What happens after I request a place?
CATO reviews your role and board or executive context to keep the cohort comparable in seniority. Once your place is confirmed, we send you a payment link along with full event information.
Lineup
Dr Peter Crow, CMInstD
Dr Peter Crow is an accredited director and chair, with an extensive record advising boards, chairs, institutional investors and governments across five continents. He holds a doctorate in corporate governance and strategy and is a chartered member of the Institute of Directors. He lives in New Zealand and works globally. One facilitator. One continuous room. One and a half days. - Doctorate in corporate governance and strategy - Chartered Member, Institute of Directors (CMInstD) - Advisor to boards, chairs, institutional investors and governments
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