The job of the board of directors

March 9, 2014

On Thursday, during a panel discussion on “Corporate Governance Perspectives,” a part of Portland State University’s Idea Xchange, Rick Miller, Founder and Chairman of the Board, Avamere, succinctly summarized his view of the role of a corporate director:  “Strategically engaged; operationally distant.”

The question in my mind is, “How distant?”  Elsewhere in my blog I have described major operational shortcomings in well known companies, shortcomings that have a negative impact on the bottom line.  Clearly, the board should not be mucking about in operations, but shouldn’t the board have some way of evaluating operational effectiveness?