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Closing keynote: where were the boards? Directors were busy serving their board to the best of their abilities--but did they get the help they needed?

Article Excerpt
In a recent article in The Wall Street Journal entitled "Where Were the Boards?," Bill George concludes that in response to the recent round of financial failures by the likes of Lehman, AIG, Bear Stearns, Countrywide Financial, Wachovia, Washington Mutual, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, "the solution is not to diminish the responsibilities of directors, but rather to hold them accountable to fulfill their fiduciary duties and to enforce negative consequences when they fail to do so."

Clearly, something went wrong--collectively, shareholder financial losses of the aforementioned companies are staggering. And, unfortunately, that is only a part of the total loss suffered as a result of the recent financial crisis. While I think Mr. George raises an interesting question in his article and I agree that Boards must be accountable, I suggest there is a real systemic flaw in corporate governance in this country that will continue to plague our public corporations and economy until appropriately addressed.

Directors are not being given the resources to do their jobs. And they have to worry about being subject to personal liability if something goes wrong. There have been at least 14 cases in the last 25 years where directors had to...

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