Baseball in the boardroom.

• Author: Edelson, Harry
• Position: Board meetings

At an athletic contest, the fans boo laziness and incompetence. In the boardroom, who is booing?

Did you ever go to a baseball game and hear the fans booing a highly paid player failing to run out a grounder or hustle after a ball that got by? The same is true for athletes in any professional sport, be it basketball, hockey, or soccer. Baseball does not have a monopoly on highly paid athletes who do not hustle. The difference is that in baseball the lazy athlete finds it difficult to hide. The attention of the fan is focused on the batter and on the fielder to whom the ball is hit. In the other sports, laziness is not so conspicuous. There are many players of offense and defense moving at the same time.

Now it is time to introduce the analogy of baseball in the boardroom.

The same board members who go to baseball games and boo lazy, highly paid athletes (there are no lazy low-paid athletes) may be deserving of boos, too. How many highly compensated board members show up at board meetings ill-prepared? How many board members only contribute at the board meetings and never in between? How many board members are serving primarily for compensation and not giving adequate services in return?

Does the lazy, highly paid board member escape scrutiny because the board is like football, where 22 players are involved in every play? I hardly think so. The board is more like baseball. It must be obvious to everyone in attendance that some board members are contributing and others are not.

At an athletic contest the fans boo laziness and incompetence. In the boardroom, who is booing? Is ownership booing? Is management booing? In fact, management should do more than boo. Management should act like a baseball general manager or owner and fire the lazy or useless director. Management has a duty to its shareholders to do more than boo.

Not every management wants a strong or industrious board. If the truth be known, there are many CEOs who are in cahoots with their lazy board members. These CEOs do not want their decisionmaking questioned. They want to be highly compensated and are willing to pay their directors very well to buy their allegiance.

When there is poor corporate performance and a do-nothing board of directors, it is time for investors to take charge. Institutional investors are beginning to do just that. It is about time. As they used to say in Brooklyn, "Throw the bums...