Board

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Areas of Interest: Career Management, CEO Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Ethics, Women CEOs

About Board

In relation to a company or other formal organization, a director is an officer (that is, someone who works for the company) charged with the conduct and management of its affairs. A director may be an inside director (a director who is also an officer or promoter or both) or an outside, or independent, director. The directors collectively are referred to as a board of directors. Sometimes the board will appoint one of its members to be the chair or chairperson of the board of directors, traditionally also called chairman or chairwoman.

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Theoretically, the control of a company is divided between two bodies: the board of directors, and the shareholders in general meeting. In practice, the amount of power exercised by the board varies with the type of company. In small private companies, the directors and the shareholders will normally be the same people, and thus there is no real division of power. In large public companies, the board tends to exercise more of a supervisory role, and individual responsibility and management tends to be delegated downward to individual professional executive directors (such as a finance director or a marketing director) who deal with particular areas of the company's affairs.

Another feature of boards of directors in large public companies is that the board tends to have more de facto power. Between the practice of institutional shareholders (such as pension funds and banks) granting proxies to the board to vote their shares at general meetings and the large numbers of shareholders involved, the board can comprise a voting bloc that is difficult to overcome. However, there have been moves recently to try to increase shareholder activism amongst both institutional investors and individuals with small shareholdings.
A board-only organization is one whose board is self-appointed, rather than being accountable to a base of members through elections; or in which the powers of the membership are extremely limited.

Quotes about Board

  1. “ The increase we're seeing in active CEO searches suggests that boards are again looking at the future leadership needs of their companies, not just at the short-term impacts of the economy. We expect to see this trend continue as the recession ebbs. ”
    In Expect Heavy CEO Turnover Very Soon
  2. “ I use Insight's Chief Executive Series like a board of directors. ”
    In The Power of Peers: CEO Peer Groups « BLOOMware

  1. Mentioned In 5 Articles

  2. The Lessons of the Mark Hurd Debacle: 7 Tips to Prevent Ethical Failures of the CEO

    Explore Article earthtimes.org (Aug 11 2010) CEO Leadership

    ...idering the facts, made a clear statement about their decisions and acted with utmost discretion. * Board leaders must make clear to executive teams that they will be judged on their actions and behavior a... (Read Full Article)

    Comment on Article Mentions:   CEO   Atlanta   Board

  3. Advisory Boards – Turbocharged Business Development | Articles MD

    Explore Article a.mooladays.com (Jan 10 2010) CEO Leadership

    Advisory Boards – Turbocharged Business Development | Articles MD ...er been involved in. My discussions with a CEO or Chairman about designing, building and managing a board generally begin with an initial contact which has been the result of a recommendation by a friend o... (Read Full Article)

    Comment on Article Mentions:   CEO   Chairman   Board

  4. The fable of the new CEO and the culturally unfit « Brandon A Roger

    Explore Article Brandon A Roger (Nov 29 2009) CEO Leadership

    ...der who spent their professional life at her (soon to be) predecessor’s feet. This scenario denotes board leadership’s recognition of corporate equilibrium – any change movement to the corporate balance is... (Read Full Article)

    Comment on Article Mentions:   CEO   Chairman   Jack Welch

  5. Jeff Immelt was a sales guy « Sasha Dichter's Blog

    Explore Article Sasha Dichter’s Blog (Oct 27 2009) CEO Leadership

    ...their time in external-facing roles (representing the organization, raising funds, working with the Board, creating strategy and positioning and owning the brand and thinking about organizational growth), ... (Read Full Article)

    Comment on Article Mentions:   IBM   Steve Ballmer   Board

  6. Vistage CEO Confidence Index Jumps Unprecedented 15 Points

    Explore Article earthtimes.org (Oct 2 2009) CEO Leadership

    Vistage CEO Confidence Index Jumps Unprecedented 15 Points ...he CEOs in our survey believe the economic recovery has begun,” says Rafael Pastor, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Vistage International. “More than 80 percent see their company revenues and profits incr... (Read Full Article)

    Comment on Article Mentions:   Board   China   CEO

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