5.
Wanted: A Leader of the Board
A New Yorker cartoon some years back captured it well: A ferocious-looking chief executive sits at the head of the boardroom table, leaning menacingly toward a cowering group of directors. “That is my gut feel,” says the CEO in the caption, “now I’ll recognize any other guts!” Amusing, but the cartoon also captured a fundamental truth about many US boardrooms at the time. The chief executive was in charge, and the directors, mostly handpicked by the CEO, were there to do little more than nod agreement with the CEO’s pronouncements. That was the age of the imperial CEO, responsible for major decisions and accountable to none. And it was the age of the ceremonial board. Separate leadership in the boardroom by directors ...
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