The “founder problem” has resurfaced again in corporate Australia as the two high-profile founders of WiseTech Global and Mineral Resources demonstrate a lack of enthusiasm about stepping back from the businesses they founded because of serious allegations of governance failures.

Along with the question of upholding proper governance at Australia’s biggest technology firm and sixth-largest mining company on the ASX, this is also an opportunity to start a bigger discussion about how the idea of best practices in corporate governance might be tweaked to help reduce the founder problem arising in the future.