When I led a high-profile company, a death threat arrived at my home. It was specific, credible and personal.

That experience taught me something simple but enduring: leadership attracts risk. When you’re the figurehead of an organisation, especially in high profile companies, you become a natural target for those looking for one.

Today, that risk has only intensified. Public roles now carry greater risk and liability than ever before. New Zealand faces a level of volatility unseen in decades. Extremism, foreign interference and targeted harassment are no longer theoretical, they’re shaping the environment CEO’s, directors and employers operate within.

The new frontier of governance
Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, directors and employers have a personal, non-delegable duty to identify and manage risks that could harm their people.

The recent case of The University of Auckland and Associate Professor, Dr. Siouxsie Wiles (1) serves as a significant reminder of the legal and moral obligations employers have to protect their employees, especially those in high-profile public roles.

Key lessons:

• Acknowledge risk beyond the premises. Employers must recognise their duty of care extends to employees’ work-related activity outside traditional hours and locations.

• Plan and adapt. Risk assessments and protective plans must evolve with changing circumstances and emerging threats.

• Own the duty. Consultation is important, but the legal onus to act remains with the employer and, ultimately, with its directors and senior management. Directors and executives are expected to foresee and manage these risks as part of their governance role.

Failure to do so is no longer a question of oversight, it’s a breach of legal obligations.

Turning obligation into practice

True leadership in this space is proactive.

Interrogate the risk: Ask uncomfortable questions. Seek independent threat assessments.
Test your systems: Don’t assume processes work, prove they do.
Model the standard: When directors and executives take security seriously, everyone else follows.
Preparation and presence define effective leadership. You can’t control every threat, but you can control your readiness.

Where Spectre fits – At Spectre our collective experience spans special tactics, intelligence, diplomacy and corporate governance. We translate complex threat intelligence into practical frameworks, policies, training and culture that stand up under pressure.

Few consultancies bridge the gap between executive accountability and real-world protective expertise. That’s where we operate.

Risk finds gaps. Preparation closes them.

By Rob Mitchell

1.    Russell McVeagh – Covid-19 and psychosocial risks: outcome of Siouxsie Wiles and University of Auckland case Contributors:  Emma Peterson, Mark Campbell , Caitlin Walker. Published on: 09 July 2024

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