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No. 1, 2009

                           Board of Director Series:


                           The Changing of the Board




    Boards In Crisis: Part One
    Failures in governance contributed
    significantly to the global disruption
    of markets and economies in 2008.
    We need to rethink and reshape corporate boards in
    order to improve their ability to oversee organizations
    that operate in complex and competitive business
    ecosystems. The first priority for boards is to refocus
    on shareholder value and restore shareholder trust.




    Boyden global executive search

    And

    John Levy of Board Advisory




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Board of Director Series — No. 1, 2009                www.boyden.com


         The Changing of the Board



         Table of Contents

         Introduction to The Changing of the Board

    I    Corporate Boards in Crisis

    II   A Brief History: Fighting for the Soul of the Board

    III Shareholders Get Engaged

    IV Transforming Boards for Competitive Advantage

         Boyden’s Board of Director Series

         Acknowledgements and Sources

         About Boyden

         About John Levy and Board Advisory




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Board of Director Series — No. 1, 2009                                     www.boyden.com


    The Changing of the Board



    Boards In Crisis: Part One
    Introduction

    The Changing of the Board is a series of           the goal is to ensure boards act as trusted
    four papers about the challenge of finding         agents on behalf of shareholders. CEOs and
    new directors for organizations that oper-         company insiders often want to retain control
    ate in today’s increasingly complex business       of board agendas and board membership in
    environment. These papers explore the chal-        order to minimize opposition to their man-
    lenge of practicing corporate oversight and        agement decisions. Research suggests that
    governance in a world of change. It is an is-      companies do, in fact, become more profit-
    sue of critical importance to the many clients     able and achieve higher stock prices when
    Boyden serves around the world.                    their boards are more independent and less
                                                       controlled by internal management.
    Making boards (and those they serve) more
    successful has become a priority for all who       Shareholders were the big losers in the re-
    participate in today’s global markets. That        cent market collapse – inspiring them to be-
    includes shareholders, stakeholders, corp-         come more engaged in company affairs. The
    orations, and customers – and the capital          SEC recently voted to propose a comprehen-
    markets as well. The four papers that              sive series of rule amendments to
    constitute The Changing of the Board               facilitate the rights of shareholders to nomi-
    offer fresh insight on how to construct            nate directors to run against company-select-
    boards that work. The series begins with a         ed slates. This is another step in reducing the
    concise overview of why boards fail. It            conflicts of interest which often undermine
    explains the meaning and value of board            the commitment and effectiveness of boards
    independence. And it describes the strate-         in overseeing company management. New
    gies needed to move boards from focusing           research indicates that hybrid boards – com-
    on compliance to creating competitive              bining shareholder-supported directors with
    advantage.                                         management-aligned directors – are more
                                                       successful in improving company results and
    Boards in Crisis, the first paper in the series,   increasing shareholder value than traditional
    focuses on corporate boards: past, present,        CEO-controlled boards.
    and future. Years of reform have improved
    the capability and performance of boards.          Some boards, like that of Costco, have
    But not enough. The recent global crisis –         proven very successful in proactively steering
    and especially a failure of boards to manage       their companies toward continuing success.
    risk and compensation in financial services –      Much progress has been made in moving
    indicates a need for deeper and more               from ceremonial boards to working boards.
    thoughtful changes in the practice of corpo-       The next challenge is to develop strategies
    rate oversight and governance. This first pa-      to move boards beyond mere compliance
    per explores the reasons, both historical and      to providing new levels of value. The board
    contemporary, why shareholder interests            of Costco, for example, is clearly an equal
    have not received the attention they require.      partner with internal management, and the
                                                       results have been excellent. Leading thinkers
    Today the “fight for the soul of the board”        such as Ram Charan, author of the acclaimed
    continues as many shareholders seek more           books Boards that Work and Boards that
    independent boards, often asking that the          Deliver, believe that building a great board
    positions of CEO and Chairman be separated.        may be the next big corporate advantage –
    While both legislation (Sarbanes-Oxley) and        and one of the few competitive advantages
    regulation (requirements of NASDAQ and the         that may be sustainable over many years.
    National Association of Security Dealers) now
    mandate that “independent” directors fill          Corporate boards must do a better job of
    key board positions, those directors may still     delivering on the now centuries-old promise
    see themselves as led by the CEO and his           to protect and increase shareholder value. A
    team. From the shareholder’s point of view,        primary goal is building honest collaborative
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Board of Director Series — No. 1, 2009                                      www.boyden.com


                                    The Changing of the Board




                                    relationships with internal managers, includ-     Tipping points were passed. The dominos
                                    ing occasionally temperamental CEOs; so           began to fall.
                                    they can work together to find better ways
                                    to successfully navigate the accelerating         First, the large financial enterprises that were
                                    complexity of twenty-first Century business       the foundations of the economy began to tot-
                                    environments.                                     ter then fail. As those institutions failed, other
                                                                                      interdependent corporations collapsed. The
                                    Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich            demise of companies, one after another, cap-
                                    makes our future shockingly clear in his new      sized whole sectors. Whole economies were
                                    book Supercapitalism. The global market-          affected. The domino effect quickly crossed
                                    place will only become more competitive,          national boundaries.
                                    more complex, and more unforgiving. Com-
                                    panies no longer have time to waste on any        Soon we found ourselves in a world of pain.
                                    activity that will not improve products or gen-
                                    erate profits.                                    The underlying causes and ultimate effects
                                                                                      of these events will be studied for years. But
                                    I. Corporate Boards In Crisis                     there is no denying that too few corporate
                                                                                      boards were prepared to deal decisively with
                                    What happened to our companies and our            critical events of this size, speed, and com-
                                    world between January of 2008 and today?          plexity. Too many CEOs and boards were late
                                                                                      in recognizing and mitigating risks.
                                    The simplest way to comprehend the eco-
                                    nomic meltdown of 2008 is to view it as a         For most of us, governance is invisible until
“Boards own a large share of        domino effect that occured on a global scale.     it fails. The scope of the failure tells us the
the responsibility for the good
governance and management of                                                          scope of the change required to prevent
companies. It’s time they step up   Instantaneous global communication, busi-         similar failures in the future.
and do a better job of that”
                                    ness complexity and hyper-competition all
Dinesh Mirchandani, Managing
Director, Boyden India              came together to drive unrealistic business       Few are comfortable with fundamental
                                    expectations, models, and strategies. Those,      change. But no one wants to see another
                                    in turn, generated unintended and out-of-         year like 2008.
                                    control consequences.
                                    •	   A continuing market emphasis on              On the surface, governance appears simple.
                                         short-term profitability distracted many     Boards are responsible for overseeing com-
                                         companies from focusing on long-term         pany compliance, strategy, execution, and
                                         sustainability.                              results. Many believe the buck stops with the
                                                                                      board when companies falter and sharehold-
                                    •	   A need to deliver on projections of short-   ers suffer.
                                         term profitability helped create a global
                                         market for financial derivatives. (Warren    Beneath that apparently simple surface, how-
                                         Buffet warned markets early in 2003 that     ever, lurk historical issues that have made it
                                         derivatives were “financial products of      more difficult for directors to do their jobs.
                                         mass destruction.”)                          Boards have been held responsible for cor-
“Too often boards have not                                                            porate governance, for oversight of manage-
represented shareholders. And       •	   Supposedly sophisticated risk manage-
directors have waited too long to                                                     ment and business operations, and financial
push back when they have doubts          ment systems failed to identify and
                                                                                      results, but too often directors were not
about management decisions”              mitigate the potential downside of what
Sarah Stewart, Principal,                                                             given the access, tools, and support required.
                                         appeared to be a booming market.
Boyden Pittsburgh                                                                     Until 2002 (and the passage of Sarbanes-
                                    •	 Business ethics were deemed irrelevant         Oxley) boards were not truly empowered to
                                       and pushed aside in many companies.            access the information they needed to do
                                                                                      their job. By 2008 many boards had still not
                                    •	   Control systems (governing institutions,     changed culture and practice enough to uti-
                                         regulators, and corporate boards of di-      lize their new powers.
                                         rectors) were gradually eroded, compro-
                                         mised, and eventually overwhelmed.
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    The Changing of the Board




    The SEC, in announcing recent proposals to       be encouraged to become more diligent in
    strengthen shareholder participation in board    carrying out their duties. Changing regula-
    elections, noted that the economic crisis        tions will not change results unless boards
    “has led many to question whether boards         and directors change their behavior as well.
    of directors are truly being held accountable
    for the decisions that they make; whether        “You need to be capable of deep, mature
    boards are exercising appropriate oversight      thought and the persistence of action to in-
    of management; whether boards are appro-         fluence change as a board member,” says
    priately focused on shareholder interests;       Dinesh Mirchandani, Managing Director of
    and whether boards need to be held more          Boyden India. “This is a responsibility that
    responsible for their decisions regarding such   falls squarely on the next generation of
    issues as compensation structures and risk       board members.” But who will identify
    management.”                                     and recruit that next generation? How long
                                                     should boards wait to make changes? And
    Not everybody is critical of everything that     what are the most urgent concerns?
    happens in the boardroom. “Boards have
    generally done a better job than people give     “The most critical role for boards now is to
    them credit for. One of the major problems       restore trust,” says John Levy. “That is what
    is that the expectations of stakeholders are     we need to do. We need to get that fixed.”
    often unrealistic,” states John F. Levy, CEO
    of Board Advisory, a member of the board
    of directors of five public companies, and a     II. A Brief History: Fighting for the
    frequent author and speaker of boards and            Soul of the Board
    corporate governance. While some commen-
    tators and shareholders believe that directors   Ideally, CEOs and independent directors
    are responsible for company results regard-      should be working together to restore trust
    less of what is happening in the business        by improving shareholder value. Sometimes
    environment, many professionals who work         they do. More often they do not. For decades
    with boards say the public has unrealistic       there has been a battle over who controls the
    expectations of what directors can accom-        board, who sets board agendas. In too many
    plish. “The role of the director is not well     cases, that battle has been between the CEO
    understood. It doesn’t matter how intelligent,   and the shareholders.
    dedicated or competent they are,” says
    Levy. “No director can be everywhere and         Corporate investment structures were intro-
    do everything within a company. Board mem-       duced four hundred years ago to facilitate
    bers are not ‘supermanagers.’ Their role is      long-term investment in enterprises with
    oversight, not management.”                      substantial capital needs. The first such
                                                     entity was the Dutch East India Company.
    Everyone wants boards to be better. And          In exchange for providing long-term capital,
    many boards are better. Directors have been      investors received partial ownership in the
    working longer hours than ever before. Many      form of “shares” which could be sold when
    boards are now more persistent in asking         they wanted to cash out. Investors thus
    questions and demanding answers. But,            became “shareholders.” Later legislation
    as the financial events of 2008 continue to      provided corporations with separate identity
    remind us, boards simply have not been           and rights in perpetuity. This model proved
    better enough.                                   highly successful in attracting capital and in
                                                     driving the growth of businesses over the
    That is why institutions responsible for main-   next few centuries.
    taining regulatory guidelines for corporate
    boards of directors must rethink and refine      Initially, directors were shareholders elected
    frameworks for governance in order to            by their peers to oversee the investment.
    ensure corporate boards are properly staffed     The practice of selecting well-known mem-
    and fully resourced. In addition, boards must    bers of the business community to be fair
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    The Changing of the Board




    third-party observers was introduced shortly        rubber stamping are rapidly coming to an end
    thereafter. Professor Robert Tricker, the au-       as independent directors begin to flex their
    thor of Corporate Governance – Principles,          muscles and adopt best practices in corpo-
    Policies and Practices published by Oxford          rate governance.”
    in 2009, says their role was to assure share-
    holders that investments were properly uti-         Sarah Stewart, a Principal with Boyden Pitts-
    lized, so shareholders would trust companies        burgh, and an expert in governance issues,
    with their money. In practice, however, direc-      agrees. “Not many CEOs have the confi-
    tors were appointed by senior management            dence to come to a board without having all
    and so rarely disagreed with them. Being a          the answers in place. But that’s what it really
    director paid well for duties that were largely     takes. It’s critical to bring the board in earlier.
    ceremonial.                                         It’s an act of courage for a CEO to do that.
                                                        But that’s the only effective way to involve a
    The genius of the board system is that it es-       board in strategy and also get the benefit of
    tablished third-party governance in order to        the directors’ collective experience.”
    override the self-interest of management and
    individual shareholders in favor of assuring        Boyden’s Mirchandani believes the problem
    safety and fairness to all shareholders. With-      exists in India as well. “Board members here
    out such oversight, capital markets could           have too often functioned as ‘yes-men’ of the
    not exist. But there is a fundamentally unre-       Chairman, CEO or promoter. Satyam [a lead-
    solved issue in the system: “The Principal-         ing Indian outsourcing company that for years
    Agent Problem.” The principal (in our case          signficantly inflated its earnings and assets] is
    the shareholder) depends on payment to the          a clear example of that.”
    agent (for this purpose the director and the
    board) to motivate the agent to perform the         The Chairmen’s Forum, an influential group of
    activity desired by the principal.                  more than 50 current and former board chair-
                                                        men, recently endorsed a new report which
    The difficulty is the principal (shareholder)       suggests that separating the roles of CEO
    lacks sufficient knowledge of what will mo-         and Chairman of the Board is essential to
    tivate the agent (the director and the board)       “restoring market trust in the enterprise.”
    to perform the required service (watching           Published by Yale’s Millstein Center for
    out for and growing shareholder value).             Corporate Governance and Performance,
    Equally difficult for the principal is that while   “Chairing the Board” says independent
    the agent knows what the agent has done,            board chairs are the best way to compel
    often there is not enough information for the       CEOs to focus on shareholder issues and
    principal to understand if the activity was         to curb senior management conflicts of
    actually performed and if so, how well. The         interest. The report emphasizes that
    Principal-Agent problem continues to be             “managing the board is a separate and
    a fundamental issue for shareholders and            time-intensive responsibility.”
    boards. The realistic shareholder entertains a
    healthy suspicion that their interests are not      In the UK the number of CEOs chairing the
    being protected.                                    board has been reduced to only 5% of FTSE
                                                        350 companies. A study in Canada showed
    Amazingly, virtually no one paid much atten-        two-thirds of public companies were already
    tion to boards of directors until 1971 when         using independent board chairmen by 2003.
    Harvard Professor Myles L. Mace published           According to “Chairing the Board” the
    Directors: Myth and Reality. This classic           US has been slower to take this key step
    study revealed directors did not, in fact, es-      towards reforming boards. BusinessWeek
    tablish the policies of the firm, rarely chose      recently identified 16 percent of US boards
    the CEO, rubber-stamped compensation                as having truly independent chairmen in
    decisions, and were not inclined to ask tough       2008. The magazine said many non-executive
    questions. Tom Flannery, Managing Direc-            chairs were actually either ex-CEOs of the
    tor of Boyden Pittsburgh says, “The days of         company or otherwise related to internal
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    The Changing of the Board




    management, and thus might lack full inde-        by company insiders. The new regulations
    pendence.                                         require sponsoring shareholders to own a
                                                      not-insignificant share of company stock, but
    Boyden’s Stewart emphasizes that “whoever         they will add another way to move boards
    controls the board agenda controls the board.     to have more independence. It is interesting
    Boards have been and must be more vocal           to note that a study that tracked the perfor-
    about what it is they want to work on.”           mance of 120 hybrid boards (boards which
                                                      mix independent directors with traditional
                                                      directors selected and supported by com-
    III. Shareholders Get Enraged                     pany management) formed between 2005
         and Engaged                                  and 2008 demonstrated that hybrid boards
                                                      of directors are able to increase share values
    Millions of shareholders suffered signifi-        faster than traditional boards.
    cant losses in the 2008 meltdown of world
    markets. Some lost as much as half of the
    previous value of their equities. Enraged         IV. Transforming Boards for
    shareholders can and do become engaged                Competitive Advantage
    shareholders. Shareholder activism existed
    long before the events of 2008, but recent        “Every board is different,” emphasizes Boy-
    events have caused activists to assert more       den’s Stewart. “That’s because every com-
    independent control over boards.                  pany is different.” But it is clear that fixing
                                                      board problems is on everybody’s agenda.
    Shareholder advocates believe the best way        A recent McKinsey Quarterly report on the
    to assure that boards focus on protecting         state of the corporate board indicates boards
    shareholder value is to put directors in place    are becoming more active, engaged, and
    who are committed to doing just that. Board       striving to make significant efforts to reform.
    fights are expensive and hard to win, but         Boards surveyed by McKinsey are review-
    shareholders have had enough victories in         ing current company performance, risk, and
    the past to allow researchers to measure          financials. They are approving strategy. And
    how shareholder-focused boards perform.           they are tracking progress against strategy.
    Studies indicate shareholders fare significant-   Directors who say they want more time to
    ly better when boards become independent          focus on strategy, are directors who are
    enough to make shareholder interests their        becoming increasingly ambitious about pro-
    most important priority.                          viding more value to companies. They also
                                                      would like to spend more time developing tal-
    “Corporate Governance and Equity                  ent for succession planning.
    Prices,” a study by Gompers, Ishii and Met-
    rick, showed that firms with stronger share-      Independent directors complain of being
    holder rights (associated with independent        frustrated by an inability to obtain a broader
    boards) were more profitable and had higher       range of information. Too often, they are not
    stock valuations. Firms where boards and          allowed to seek information from employees
    policies were controlled by CEOs tended to        lower in the company hierarchy. Theoretically
    be less profitable and had lower stock valua-     independent directors have a right to ques-
    tions. This appeared to be because CEO-con-       tion any employee, but sometimes senior
    trolled boards tended to be more expansive,       management discourages direct contact.
    making more corporate acquisitions and hav-       The question is how can boards do a good
    ing higher capital expenditures.                  job of oversight without access to all crucial
                                                      information?
    Recent SEC proposals to strengthen share-
    holder participation in board elections should    Ram Charan described the path boards follow
    make it easier for shareholder-sponsored di-      in evolving from simply being competent to
    rectors to run against director slates chosen

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    The Changing of the Board




    providing high value services for companies.     petitors. An evolved board is positioned to
    He says the initial changing of the board in-    help do just that.
    volved moving it from ceremonial status to
    “liberated” status where it could play a more    Overcoming the historical issues, empower-
    significant role in governance. Sarbanes-Ox-     ing boards and working through conflicts with
    ley assured boards would now have access         CEOs all require significant and sincere ef-
    to information, but relationships between        fort. Many organizations aren’t willing to de-
    board and management are often negotiated        vote the effort. The events of 2008 revealed
    and formal. In these circumstances, board        too often companies lack boards able to
    governance is done mainly through compli-        make a difference when times got tough. But
    ance activities.                                 boards that are able to evolve to a higher lev-
                                                     el of play, boards with directors who are able
    New opportunities are created as boards          to establish respectful collaboration and a
    enter a third phase Charan terms “progres-       level of trust with the C-Suite will themselves
    sive.” This is characterized by increasing       become a significant competitive advantage
    dialogue and trust between independent           for their companies.
    directors and senior management. Charan
    says self-assessment processes are used          As the recent McKinsey survey shows, many
    to work though performance and partnering        directors are hungry for the challenge. They
    issues. Transparency begins to improve as        are absolutely prepared for the changing of
    information now tends to be made available       the board.
    in more useful forms. Directors are thus able
    to learn how the business really runs. They
    finally have enough information to have more
    relevant discussions with management.            Boyden’s Board of Director Series
    Though CEOs may not admit it, says Joseph        This Boyden paper Boards in Crisis is the
    Daniel McCool, author of the recent book         first of a sequence of four on The Changing
    Deciding Who Leads, CEOs can use all the         of the Board.
    help they can get. “I think there are a lot of
    global companies that cannot be led by one       Better Directors for Better Boards, the
    person alone. The CEO role has become too        next in this series focuses on the chang-
    complex, too global, and too demanding for       ing world of the board director. Traditionally
    individuals. Individual executives need to       board membership was largely a well-paying
    have the courage and honesty to acknowl-         ceremonial job reserved for friends of man-
    edge they can’t do it all.” Today’s manage-      agement. Since legislation and listing regula-
    ment is in great need of board perspective,      tions introduced in 2002 and 2003, directors
    experience and balance in order to determine     are expected to do real work. Most have
    how to continually improve strategies and        additional responsibilities including serving
    operations.                                      on board committees, like auditing or com-
                                                     pensation. As pressure (and sometimes bad
    Virtually all companies now struggle to catch    publicity) increases, many board members
    up to the growing complexity, speed, and         choose to leave boards early. This paper in-
    globalization of business. As boards and         cludes a special interview with “Director X,”
    CEOs are active partners more often, the         an experienced board member serving as a
    potential for new value and new ways to cre-     Director of two high profile companies, who
    ate competitive advantage increases. Reich       provides a surprising and unique look at what
    points out that most components in business      really takes place in the boardroom in a crisis.
    value chains are now rapidly commoditized.       Director X describes how the responsibilities
    Markets are becoming level playing fields,       of directors changed, including the bad and
    resulting in extreme levels of hyper-compe-      the good, and what shifted the day Sarbanes-
    tition between companies desperate to find       Oxley became law.
    ways to differentiate themselves from com-
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    The Changing of the Board




    Boards recognize that in the future they will       Boards Get Real is the fourth and final paper
    need different kinds of board members than          in Boyden’s series. It explores the new ability
    those who served in the past. Gone are the          of boards to obtain independent resources.
    “feel good” celebrity directors. In the future,     Boards may be still be hesitant to use them,
    boards will increasingly require experienced        but for the first time in history, boards
    directors with solid knowledge of relevant          finally have significant opportunity to practice
    business domains — and companies will               the oversight that has long been promised.
    seek candidates who are tech-savvy, and             Something as simple as assuring accurate re-
    have expertise in new areas such as risk            porting of quarterly results has been surpris-
    management and business continuity. As              ingly difficult. There is also the ever-present
    more directors resign early, there will be a        temptation to over-state business results in
    growing shortage of qualified candidates. In        order to trigger bonuses. Nearly 1200 public
    addition, it may be even more difficult to find     companies in 2005 had to restate business
    new directors if director liability is increased.   results (as opposed to 270 public companies
    What this means is that “The War for Talent”        five years earlier). Nothing compromises the
    has finally come to the board room. Compa-          trust of capital markets and shareholders
    nies will increasingly rely on retained search      more quickly than inaccurate reporting of
    to find directors capable of helping a board        business results, but board members them-
    become a competitive advantage.                     selves lack time to assure accurate reporting.

    The third paper in the series is Why Eth-           Few members of the public are aware that
    ics Are Not Optional. The work of a board           boards have direct responsibility for prevent-
    member always begins with a deep under-             ing, discovering, and investigating significant
    standing of the unique duties of directors,         fraud associated with company employees,
    both legal and ethical. The board is responsi-      agents, or customers. Until 2002 and the
    ble for understanding, defining, and maintain-      passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation (as
    ing ethical frameworks to guide all employ-         well as additional requirements established
    ees and agents of the company, as well as           by stock exchanges), boards of directors
    circumscribing company business practice.           lacked sufficient resources to accomplish
    Creating an ethical “tone at the top” turns         this. Passage of the much-criticized legisla-
    out to be one of the most important duties of       tion is considered by many experts to be
    directors. Leading by example is the most ef-       the most successful act of empowering US
    fective way to assure an ethical organization.      corporate boards in the history of corporate
                                                        governance. Sarbanes-Oxley gave boards the
    History has shown what can happen when a            legal responsibility to assure business infor-
    board like the Enron board (then considered         mation was correct and business operations
    one of the best boards in America) sets eth-        legal. But it also allowed boards the right to
    ics aside whenever senior executives ask. An        retain outside auditors and other resources to
    interview with John F. Levy, CEO of Board           report directly to the board.
    Advisory, who often consults for compro-
    mised companies and troubled boards, de-
                                                        The question remains why, if boards now
    scribes how returning to ethical frameworks
                                                        have sufficient external support to provide
    enables companies to restore shareholder
                                                        real oversight, did so many prove ineffective
    trust. Levy, a participant in authoring “The
                                                        in the financial crisis of 2008? It appears “the
    Changing of the Board” series, empha-
                                                        changing of the board” will require more than
    sizes that the value of rebuilding customer
                                                        legislation and regulation. Companies, boards
    trust and company reputation will always far
                                                        and individual directors must all be willing
    exceed the cost and effort of doing so. It is
                                                        to make the commitments and changes
    clear that good ethics is good business.
                                                        required to protect shareholders and capital
                                                        markets.




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     The Changing of the Board




     Acknowledgements and Sources


     BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD by Colin B. Carter and Jay W. Lorsch, Harvard Business School
     Press, Boston, 2004

     BOARDS AT WORK: How Corporate Boards Create Competitive Advantage by Ram Charan,
     Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1998

     BOARDS THAT DELIVER: Advancing Corporate Governance from Compliance to Competitive
     Advantage by Ram Charan, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2005

     CHAIRING THE BOARD: The Case for Independent Leadership in Corporate America,
     Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance, Yale School of Management,
     New Haven, 2009

     CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND EQUITY PRICES, by Paul Gompers, Joy L. Ishii, and
     Andrew Metrick, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 118, No. 1, pp. 107-155, February 2003.

     CORPORATE GOVERNANCE: Principles, Policies and Practicies by Bob Tricker, Oxford
     University Press, New York, 2009

     CORPORATE GOVERNANCE WEBSITE. http://www.corpgov.net/index.htm

     DIRECTORS: MYTH AND REALITY by Myles L. Mace, Harvard Business School Press, Boston,
     1971 and 1986. (Out of print.)

     HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, including article
     “Redrawing the Line Between the Board and the CEO.” Harvard Business School Press,
     Boston, 2000

     SEC Votes to Propose Rule Amendments to Facilitate Rights of Shareholders to Nominate
     Directors, SEC press release. http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2009/2009-116.htm

     SUPERCAPITALISM by Robert Reich, Random House, New York, 2007




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     The Changing of the Board




     About Boyden

     Boyden is a global leader in the executive search industry with more than 70
     offices in over 40 countries. Founded in 1946, Boyden specializes in high level
     executive search, interim management and human capital consulting across a
     broad spectrum of industries. For more information, please visit www.boyden.com.

     About John Levy and Board Advisory

     John F. Levy is Chief Executive Officer and principal consultant for Board Advisory, a consulting
     firm that assists public companies, or companies aspiring to be public, with corporate governance,
     corporate compliance, ethics, financial reporting, and financial strategies. Mr. Levy has 30 years of
     progressive financial, accounting and business experience, including having served as Chief Finan-
     cial Officer of both public and private companies.

     As a frequent speaker on the roles and responsibilities of board members and audit committee
     members, Mr. Levy has authored “Focus on Corporate Ethics: Legal and Ethical Responsibilities of
     Board Members,” a course on the ethical and legal responsibilities of board members initially pre-
     sented to various state accounting societies.

     For additional Information about Board Advisory and John Levy, visit boardadvisory.net


     Special thanks are due to communications firm Margolis & Company for its perspective
     and support, particularly Dan Margolis and Sheldon Renan.

     Boyden Working Papers on Leadership is a new series of publications on innovative thinking
     and best practices for corporate leadership today. These working papers provide a foundation for
     discussion internally and externally, with multiple views of leadership that include sector-specific
     and global perspectives. Boyden Working Papers may be quoted or republished through internal
     or external channels. For further information, please contact Gray Hollett, Vice President, Global
     Marketing at Boyden — ghollett@boyden.com.




11

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The Changing Of The Board

  • 1. No. 1, 2009 Board of Director Series: The Changing of the Board Boards In Crisis: Part One Failures in governance contributed significantly to the global disruption of markets and economies in 2008. We need to rethink and reshape corporate boards in order to improve their ability to oversee organizations that operate in complex and competitive business ecosystems. The first priority for boards is to refocus on shareholder value and restore shareholder trust. Boyden global executive search And John Levy of Board Advisory 1
  • 2. Board of Director Series — No. 1, 2009 www.boyden.com The Changing of the Board Table of Contents Introduction to The Changing of the Board I Corporate Boards in Crisis II A Brief History: Fighting for the Soul of the Board III Shareholders Get Engaged IV Transforming Boards for Competitive Advantage Boyden’s Board of Director Series Acknowledgements and Sources About Boyden About John Levy and Board Advisory 2
  • 3. Board of Director Series — No. 1, 2009 www.boyden.com The Changing of the Board Boards In Crisis: Part One Introduction The Changing of the Board is a series of the goal is to ensure boards act as trusted four papers about the challenge of finding agents on behalf of shareholders. CEOs and new directors for organizations that oper- company insiders often want to retain control ate in today’s increasingly complex business of board agendas and board membership in environment. These papers explore the chal- order to minimize opposition to their man- lenge of practicing corporate oversight and agement decisions. Research suggests that governance in a world of change. It is an is- companies do, in fact, become more profit- sue of critical importance to the many clients able and achieve higher stock prices when Boyden serves around the world. their boards are more independent and less controlled by internal management. Making boards (and those they serve) more successful has become a priority for all who Shareholders were the big losers in the re- participate in today’s global markets. That cent market collapse – inspiring them to be- includes shareholders, stakeholders, corp- come more engaged in company affairs. The orations, and customers – and the capital SEC recently voted to propose a comprehen- markets as well. The four papers that sive series of rule amendments to constitute The Changing of the Board facilitate the rights of shareholders to nomi- offer fresh insight on how to construct nate directors to run against company-select- boards that work. The series begins with a ed slates. This is another step in reducing the concise overview of why boards fail. It conflicts of interest which often undermine explains the meaning and value of board the commitment and effectiveness of boards independence. And it describes the strate- in overseeing company management. New gies needed to move boards from focusing research indicates that hybrid boards – com- on compliance to creating competitive bining shareholder-supported directors with advantage. management-aligned directors – are more successful in improving company results and Boards in Crisis, the first paper in the series, increasing shareholder value than traditional focuses on corporate boards: past, present, CEO-controlled boards. and future. Years of reform have improved the capability and performance of boards. Some boards, like that of Costco, have But not enough. The recent global crisis – proven very successful in proactively steering and especially a failure of boards to manage their companies toward continuing success. risk and compensation in financial services – Much progress has been made in moving indicates a need for deeper and more from ceremonial boards to working boards. thoughtful changes in the practice of corpo- The next challenge is to develop strategies rate oversight and governance. This first pa- to move boards beyond mere compliance per explores the reasons, both historical and to providing new levels of value. The board contemporary, why shareholder interests of Costco, for example, is clearly an equal have not received the attention they require. partner with internal management, and the results have been excellent. Leading thinkers Today the “fight for the soul of the board” such as Ram Charan, author of the acclaimed continues as many shareholders seek more books Boards that Work and Boards that independent boards, often asking that the Deliver, believe that building a great board positions of CEO and Chairman be separated. may be the next big corporate advantage – While both legislation (Sarbanes-Oxley) and and one of the few competitive advantages regulation (requirements of NASDAQ and the that may be sustainable over many years. National Association of Security Dealers) now mandate that “independent” directors fill Corporate boards must do a better job of key board positions, those directors may still delivering on the now centuries-old promise see themselves as led by the CEO and his to protect and increase shareholder value. A team. From the shareholder’s point of view, primary goal is building honest collaborative 3
  • 4. Board of Director Series — No. 1, 2009 www.boyden.com The Changing of the Board relationships with internal managers, includ- Tipping points were passed. The dominos ing occasionally temperamental CEOs; so began to fall. they can work together to find better ways to successfully navigate the accelerating First, the large financial enterprises that were complexity of twenty-first Century business the foundations of the economy began to tot- environments. ter then fail. As those institutions failed, other interdependent corporations collapsed. The Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich demise of companies, one after another, cap- makes our future shockingly clear in his new sized whole sectors. Whole economies were book Supercapitalism. The global market- affected. The domino effect quickly crossed place will only become more competitive, national boundaries. more complex, and more unforgiving. Com- panies no longer have time to waste on any Soon we found ourselves in a world of pain. activity that will not improve products or gen- erate profits. The underlying causes and ultimate effects of these events will be studied for years. But I. Corporate Boards In Crisis there is no denying that too few corporate boards were prepared to deal decisively with What happened to our companies and our critical events of this size, speed, and com- world between January of 2008 and today? plexity. Too many CEOs and boards were late in recognizing and mitigating risks. The simplest way to comprehend the eco- nomic meltdown of 2008 is to view it as a For most of us, governance is invisible until “Boards own a large share of domino effect that occured on a global scale. it fails. The scope of the failure tells us the the responsibility for the good governance and management of scope of the change required to prevent companies. It’s time they step up Instantaneous global communication, busi- similar failures in the future. and do a better job of that” ness complexity and hyper-competition all Dinesh Mirchandani, Managing Director, Boyden India came together to drive unrealistic business Few are comfortable with fundamental expectations, models, and strategies. Those, change. But no one wants to see another in turn, generated unintended and out-of- year like 2008. control consequences. • A continuing market emphasis on On the surface, governance appears simple. short-term profitability distracted many Boards are responsible for overseeing com- companies from focusing on long-term pany compliance, strategy, execution, and sustainability. results. Many believe the buck stops with the board when companies falter and sharehold- • A need to deliver on projections of short- ers suffer. term profitability helped create a global market for financial derivatives. (Warren Beneath that apparently simple surface, how- Buffet warned markets early in 2003 that ever, lurk historical issues that have made it derivatives were “financial products of more difficult for directors to do their jobs. mass destruction.”) Boards have been held responsible for cor- “Too often boards have not porate governance, for oversight of manage- represented shareholders. And • Supposedly sophisticated risk manage- directors have waited too long to ment and business operations, and financial push back when they have doubts ment systems failed to identify and results, but too often directors were not about management decisions” mitigate the potential downside of what Sarah Stewart, Principal, given the access, tools, and support required. appeared to be a booming market. Boyden Pittsburgh Until 2002 (and the passage of Sarbanes- • Business ethics were deemed irrelevant Oxley) boards were not truly empowered to and pushed aside in many companies. access the information they needed to do their job. By 2008 many boards had still not • Control systems (governing institutions, changed culture and practice enough to uti- regulators, and corporate boards of di- lize their new powers. rectors) were gradually eroded, compro- mised, and eventually overwhelmed. 4
  • 5. Board of Director Series — No. 1, 2009 www.boyden.com The Changing of the Board The SEC, in announcing recent proposals to be encouraged to become more diligent in strengthen shareholder participation in board carrying out their duties. Changing regula- elections, noted that the economic crisis tions will not change results unless boards “has led many to question whether boards and directors change their behavior as well. of directors are truly being held accountable for the decisions that they make; whether “You need to be capable of deep, mature boards are exercising appropriate oversight thought and the persistence of action to in- of management; whether boards are appro- fluence change as a board member,” says priately focused on shareholder interests; Dinesh Mirchandani, Managing Director of and whether boards need to be held more Boyden India. “This is a responsibility that responsible for their decisions regarding such falls squarely on the next generation of issues as compensation structures and risk board members.” But who will identify management.” and recruit that next generation? How long should boards wait to make changes? And Not everybody is critical of everything that what are the most urgent concerns? happens in the boardroom. “Boards have generally done a better job than people give “The most critical role for boards now is to them credit for. One of the major problems restore trust,” says John Levy. “That is what is that the expectations of stakeholders are we need to do. We need to get that fixed.” often unrealistic,” states John F. Levy, CEO of Board Advisory, a member of the board of directors of five public companies, and a II. A Brief History: Fighting for the frequent author and speaker of boards and Soul of the Board corporate governance. While some commen- tators and shareholders believe that directors Ideally, CEOs and independent directors are responsible for company results regard- should be working together to restore trust less of what is happening in the business by improving shareholder value. Sometimes environment, many professionals who work they do. More often they do not. For decades with boards say the public has unrealistic there has been a battle over who controls the expectations of what directors can accom- board, who sets board agendas. In too many plish. “The role of the director is not well cases, that battle has been between the CEO understood. It doesn’t matter how intelligent, and the shareholders. dedicated or competent they are,” says Levy. “No director can be everywhere and Corporate investment structures were intro- do everything within a company. Board mem- duced four hundred years ago to facilitate bers are not ‘supermanagers.’ Their role is long-term investment in enterprises with oversight, not management.” substantial capital needs. The first such entity was the Dutch East India Company. Everyone wants boards to be better. And In exchange for providing long-term capital, many boards are better. Directors have been investors received partial ownership in the working longer hours than ever before. Many form of “shares” which could be sold when boards are now more persistent in asking they wanted to cash out. Investors thus questions and demanding answers. But, became “shareholders.” Later legislation as the financial events of 2008 continue to provided corporations with separate identity remind us, boards simply have not been and rights in perpetuity. This model proved better enough. highly successful in attracting capital and in driving the growth of businesses over the That is why institutions responsible for main- next few centuries. taining regulatory guidelines for corporate boards of directors must rethink and refine Initially, directors were shareholders elected frameworks for governance in order to by their peers to oversee the investment. ensure corporate boards are properly staffed The practice of selecting well-known mem- and fully resourced. In addition, boards must bers of the business community to be fair 5
  • 6. Board of Director Series — No. 1, 2009 www.boyden.com The Changing of the Board third-party observers was introduced shortly rubber stamping are rapidly coming to an end thereafter. Professor Robert Tricker, the au- as independent directors begin to flex their thor of Corporate Governance – Principles, muscles and adopt best practices in corpo- Policies and Practices published by Oxford rate governance.” in 2009, says their role was to assure share- holders that investments were properly uti- Sarah Stewart, a Principal with Boyden Pitts- lized, so shareholders would trust companies burgh, and an expert in governance issues, with their money. In practice, however, direc- agrees. “Not many CEOs have the confi- tors were appointed by senior management dence to come to a board without having all and so rarely disagreed with them. Being a the answers in place. But that’s what it really director paid well for duties that were largely takes. It’s critical to bring the board in earlier. ceremonial. It’s an act of courage for a CEO to do that. But that’s the only effective way to involve a The genius of the board system is that it es- board in strategy and also get the benefit of tablished third-party governance in order to the directors’ collective experience.” override the self-interest of management and individual shareholders in favor of assuring Boyden’s Mirchandani believes the problem safety and fairness to all shareholders. With- exists in India as well. “Board members here out such oversight, capital markets could have too often functioned as ‘yes-men’ of the not exist. But there is a fundamentally unre- Chairman, CEO or promoter. Satyam [a lead- solved issue in the system: “The Principal- ing Indian outsourcing company that for years Agent Problem.” The principal (in our case signficantly inflated its earnings and assets] is the shareholder) depends on payment to the a clear example of that.” agent (for this purpose the director and the board) to motivate the agent to perform the The Chairmen’s Forum, an influential group of activity desired by the principal. more than 50 current and former board chair- men, recently endorsed a new report which The difficulty is the principal (shareholder) suggests that separating the roles of CEO lacks sufficient knowledge of what will mo- and Chairman of the Board is essential to tivate the agent (the director and the board) “restoring market trust in the enterprise.” to perform the required service (watching Published by Yale’s Millstein Center for out for and growing shareholder value). Corporate Governance and Performance, Equally difficult for the principal is that while “Chairing the Board” says independent the agent knows what the agent has done, board chairs are the best way to compel often there is not enough information for the CEOs to focus on shareholder issues and principal to understand if the activity was to curb senior management conflicts of actually performed and if so, how well. The interest. The report emphasizes that Principal-Agent problem continues to be “managing the board is a separate and a fundamental issue for shareholders and time-intensive responsibility.” boards. The realistic shareholder entertains a healthy suspicion that their interests are not In the UK the number of CEOs chairing the being protected. board has been reduced to only 5% of FTSE 350 companies. A study in Canada showed Amazingly, virtually no one paid much atten- two-thirds of public companies were already tion to boards of directors until 1971 when using independent board chairmen by 2003. Harvard Professor Myles L. Mace published According to “Chairing the Board” the Directors: Myth and Reality. This classic US has been slower to take this key step study revealed directors did not, in fact, es- towards reforming boards. BusinessWeek tablish the policies of the firm, rarely chose recently identified 16 percent of US boards the CEO, rubber-stamped compensation as having truly independent chairmen in decisions, and were not inclined to ask tough 2008. The magazine said many non-executive questions. Tom Flannery, Managing Direc- chairs were actually either ex-CEOs of the tor of Boyden Pittsburgh says, “The days of company or otherwise related to internal 6
  • 7. Board of Director Series — No. 1, 2009 www.boyden.com The Changing of the Board management, and thus might lack full inde- by company insiders. The new regulations pendence. require sponsoring shareholders to own a not-insignificant share of company stock, but Boyden’s Stewart emphasizes that “whoever they will add another way to move boards controls the board agenda controls the board. to have more independence. It is interesting Boards have been and must be more vocal to note that a study that tracked the perfor- about what it is they want to work on.” mance of 120 hybrid boards (boards which mix independent directors with traditional directors selected and supported by com- III. Shareholders Get Enraged pany management) formed between 2005 and Engaged and 2008 demonstrated that hybrid boards of directors are able to increase share values Millions of shareholders suffered signifi- faster than traditional boards. cant losses in the 2008 meltdown of world markets. Some lost as much as half of the previous value of their equities. Enraged IV. Transforming Boards for shareholders can and do become engaged Competitive Advantage shareholders. Shareholder activism existed long before the events of 2008, but recent “Every board is different,” emphasizes Boy- events have caused activists to assert more den’s Stewart. “That’s because every com- independent control over boards. pany is different.” But it is clear that fixing board problems is on everybody’s agenda. Shareholder advocates believe the best way A recent McKinsey Quarterly report on the to assure that boards focus on protecting state of the corporate board indicates boards shareholder value is to put directors in place are becoming more active, engaged, and who are committed to doing just that. Board striving to make significant efforts to reform. fights are expensive and hard to win, but Boards surveyed by McKinsey are review- shareholders have had enough victories in ing current company performance, risk, and the past to allow researchers to measure financials. They are approving strategy. And how shareholder-focused boards perform. they are tracking progress against strategy. Studies indicate shareholders fare significant- Directors who say they want more time to ly better when boards become independent focus on strategy, are directors who are enough to make shareholder interests their becoming increasingly ambitious about pro- most important priority. viding more value to companies. They also would like to spend more time developing tal- “Corporate Governance and Equity ent for succession planning. Prices,” a study by Gompers, Ishii and Met- rick, showed that firms with stronger share- Independent directors complain of being holder rights (associated with independent frustrated by an inability to obtain a broader boards) were more profitable and had higher range of information. Too often, they are not stock valuations. Firms where boards and allowed to seek information from employees policies were controlled by CEOs tended to lower in the company hierarchy. Theoretically be less profitable and had lower stock valua- independent directors have a right to ques- tions. This appeared to be because CEO-con- tion any employee, but sometimes senior trolled boards tended to be more expansive, management discourages direct contact. making more corporate acquisitions and hav- The question is how can boards do a good ing higher capital expenditures. job of oversight without access to all crucial information? Recent SEC proposals to strengthen share- holder participation in board elections should Ram Charan described the path boards follow make it easier for shareholder-sponsored di- in evolving from simply being competent to rectors to run against director slates chosen 7
  • 8. Board of Director Series — No. 1, 2009 www.boyden.com The Changing of the Board providing high value services for companies. petitors. An evolved board is positioned to He says the initial changing of the board in- help do just that. volved moving it from ceremonial status to “liberated” status where it could play a more Overcoming the historical issues, empower- significant role in governance. Sarbanes-Ox- ing boards and working through conflicts with ley assured boards would now have access CEOs all require significant and sincere ef- to information, but relationships between fort. Many organizations aren’t willing to de- board and management are often negotiated vote the effort. The events of 2008 revealed and formal. In these circumstances, board too often companies lack boards able to governance is done mainly through compli- make a difference when times got tough. But ance activities. boards that are able to evolve to a higher lev- el of play, boards with directors who are able New opportunities are created as boards to establish respectful collaboration and a enter a third phase Charan terms “progres- level of trust with the C-Suite will themselves sive.” This is characterized by increasing become a significant competitive advantage dialogue and trust between independent for their companies. directors and senior management. Charan says self-assessment processes are used As the recent McKinsey survey shows, many to work though performance and partnering directors are hungry for the challenge. They issues. Transparency begins to improve as are absolutely prepared for the changing of information now tends to be made available the board. in more useful forms. Directors are thus able to learn how the business really runs. They finally have enough information to have more relevant discussions with management. Boyden’s Board of Director Series Though CEOs may not admit it, says Joseph This Boyden paper Boards in Crisis is the Daniel McCool, author of the recent book first of a sequence of four on The Changing Deciding Who Leads, CEOs can use all the of the Board. help they can get. “I think there are a lot of global companies that cannot be led by one Better Directors for Better Boards, the person alone. The CEO role has become too next in this series focuses on the chang- complex, too global, and too demanding for ing world of the board director. Traditionally individuals. Individual executives need to board membership was largely a well-paying have the courage and honesty to acknowl- ceremonial job reserved for friends of man- edge they can’t do it all.” Today’s manage- agement. Since legislation and listing regula- ment is in great need of board perspective, tions introduced in 2002 and 2003, directors experience and balance in order to determine are expected to do real work. Most have how to continually improve strategies and additional responsibilities including serving operations. on board committees, like auditing or com- pensation. As pressure (and sometimes bad Virtually all companies now struggle to catch publicity) increases, many board members up to the growing complexity, speed, and choose to leave boards early. This paper in- globalization of business. As boards and cludes a special interview with “Director X,” CEOs are active partners more often, the an experienced board member serving as a potential for new value and new ways to cre- Director of two high profile companies, who ate competitive advantage increases. Reich provides a surprising and unique look at what points out that most components in business really takes place in the boardroom in a crisis. value chains are now rapidly commoditized. Director X describes how the responsibilities Markets are becoming level playing fields, of directors changed, including the bad and resulting in extreme levels of hyper-compe- the good, and what shifted the day Sarbanes- tition between companies desperate to find Oxley became law. ways to differentiate themselves from com- 8
  • 9. Board of Director Series — No. 1, 2009 www.boyden.com The Changing of the Board Boards recognize that in the future they will Boards Get Real is the fourth and final paper need different kinds of board members than in Boyden’s series. It explores the new ability those who served in the past. Gone are the of boards to obtain independent resources. “feel good” celebrity directors. In the future, Boards may be still be hesitant to use them, boards will increasingly require experienced but for the first time in history, boards directors with solid knowledge of relevant finally have significant opportunity to practice business domains — and companies will the oversight that has long been promised. seek candidates who are tech-savvy, and Something as simple as assuring accurate re- have expertise in new areas such as risk porting of quarterly results has been surpris- management and business continuity. As ingly difficult. There is also the ever-present more directors resign early, there will be a temptation to over-state business results in growing shortage of qualified candidates. In order to trigger bonuses. Nearly 1200 public addition, it may be even more difficult to find companies in 2005 had to restate business new directors if director liability is increased. results (as opposed to 270 public companies What this means is that “The War for Talent” five years earlier). Nothing compromises the has finally come to the board room. Compa- trust of capital markets and shareholders nies will increasingly rely on retained search more quickly than inaccurate reporting of to find directors capable of helping a board business results, but board members them- become a competitive advantage. selves lack time to assure accurate reporting. The third paper in the series is Why Eth- Few members of the public are aware that ics Are Not Optional. The work of a board boards have direct responsibility for prevent- member always begins with a deep under- ing, discovering, and investigating significant standing of the unique duties of directors, fraud associated with company employees, both legal and ethical. The board is responsi- agents, or customers. Until 2002 and the ble for understanding, defining, and maintain- passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation (as ing ethical frameworks to guide all employ- well as additional requirements established ees and agents of the company, as well as by stock exchanges), boards of directors circumscribing company business practice. lacked sufficient resources to accomplish Creating an ethical “tone at the top” turns this. Passage of the much-criticized legisla- out to be one of the most important duties of tion is considered by many experts to be directors. Leading by example is the most ef- the most successful act of empowering US fective way to assure an ethical organization. corporate boards in the history of corporate governance. Sarbanes-Oxley gave boards the History has shown what can happen when a legal responsibility to assure business infor- board like the Enron board (then considered mation was correct and business operations one of the best boards in America) sets eth- legal. But it also allowed boards the right to ics aside whenever senior executives ask. An retain outside auditors and other resources to interview with John F. Levy, CEO of Board report directly to the board. Advisory, who often consults for compro- mised companies and troubled boards, de- The question remains why, if boards now scribes how returning to ethical frameworks have sufficient external support to provide enables companies to restore shareholder real oversight, did so many prove ineffective trust. Levy, a participant in authoring “The in the financial crisis of 2008? It appears “the Changing of the Board” series, empha- changing of the board” will require more than sizes that the value of rebuilding customer legislation and regulation. Companies, boards trust and company reputation will always far and individual directors must all be willing exceed the cost and effort of doing so. It is to make the commitments and changes clear that good ethics is good business. required to protect shareholders and capital markets. 9
  • 10. Board of Director Series — No. 1, 2009 www.boyden.com The Changing of the Board Acknowledgements and Sources BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD by Colin B. Carter and Jay W. Lorsch, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 2004 BOARDS AT WORK: How Corporate Boards Create Competitive Advantage by Ram Charan, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1998 BOARDS THAT DELIVER: Advancing Corporate Governance from Compliance to Competitive Advantage by Ram Charan, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2005 CHAIRING THE BOARD: The Case for Independent Leadership in Corporate America, Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance, Yale School of Management, New Haven, 2009 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND EQUITY PRICES, by Paul Gompers, Joy L. Ishii, and Andrew Metrick, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 118, No. 1, pp. 107-155, February 2003. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE: Principles, Policies and Practicies by Bob Tricker, Oxford University Press, New York, 2009 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE WEBSITE. http://www.corpgov.net/index.htm DIRECTORS: MYTH AND REALITY by Myles L. Mace, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 1971 and 1986. (Out of print.) HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, including article “Redrawing the Line Between the Board and the CEO.” Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 2000 SEC Votes to Propose Rule Amendments to Facilitate Rights of Shareholders to Nominate Directors, SEC press release. http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2009/2009-116.htm SUPERCAPITALISM by Robert Reich, Random House, New York, 2007 10
  • 11. Board of Director Series — No. 1, 2009 www.boyden.com The Changing of the Board About Boyden Boyden is a global leader in the executive search industry with more than 70 offices in over 40 countries. Founded in 1946, Boyden specializes in high level executive search, interim management and human capital consulting across a broad spectrum of industries. For more information, please visit www.boyden.com. About John Levy and Board Advisory John F. Levy is Chief Executive Officer and principal consultant for Board Advisory, a consulting firm that assists public companies, or companies aspiring to be public, with corporate governance, corporate compliance, ethics, financial reporting, and financial strategies. Mr. Levy has 30 years of progressive financial, accounting and business experience, including having served as Chief Finan- cial Officer of both public and private companies. As a frequent speaker on the roles and responsibilities of board members and audit committee members, Mr. Levy has authored “Focus on Corporate Ethics: Legal and Ethical Responsibilities of Board Members,” a course on the ethical and legal responsibilities of board members initially pre- sented to various state accounting societies. For additional Information about Board Advisory and John Levy, visit boardadvisory.net Special thanks are due to communications firm Margolis & Company for its perspective and support, particularly Dan Margolis and Sheldon Renan. Boyden Working Papers on Leadership is a new series of publications on innovative thinking and best practices for corporate leadership today. These working papers provide a foundation for discussion internally and externally, with multiple views of leadership that include sector-specific and global perspectives. Boyden Working Papers may be quoted or republished through internal or external channels. For further information, please contact Gray Hollett, Vice President, Global Marketing at Boyden — ghollett@boyden.com. 11