Over the holidays, we'll be bringing you some earlier episodes of our Boardroom Confidential podcast.

This time it's David Kirk, the co-founder of listed venture capital fund Bailador and chair at a range of organisations including KMD Brands, Forsyth Barr and KiwiHarvest. David was also the CEO of Fairfax Limited and had an extremely successful career on the sporting field, captaining the mighty All Blacks to victory in the first Rugby World Cup in 1987.

David shares what he's learned moving from executive leadership into chair and portfolio roles, including how to stay focused across competing priorities. He unpacks the chair–CEO relationship: how to be a genuine supporter while maintaining clear accountability, and why trust and expectations matter.

The conversation also explores what high-performing boards look like in practice — from encouraging healthy disagreement to avoiding unhelpful conflict, and the simple disciplines that improve decision-making. David also reflects on growth-stage investing, founder dynamics, and why not-for-profits benefit from a stronger "social venture" approach. Finally, he draws leadership lessons from elite sport — and explains why governance in sporting organisations can go wrong when it becomes too representative.

Key Themes

• The shift from executive leadership to a portfolio of board roles
• What makes a strong chair–CEO partnership (and where it can go wrong)
• How chairs build effective board culture, debate and decision-making
• Practical board discipline: preparation, focus, and "reading the papers"
• Growth-stage investing and governance in tech businesses
• What business can learn from elite sport—and what sport gets wrong in governance