Clash of titans in the AIG boardroom.

• Author: Benmosche, Bob
• Position: American International Group Inc. - Column

From Good for the Money by Bob Benmosche. Copyright [c]2016 by the author. Published by St. Martins Press (www.stmartins.com).

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Among some people I respect, Harvey Golub (chairman of AIG) was also respected. "A brilliant man and very hands-on and very intrusive," was how one close friend and colleague of mine at AIG described him. The friend added: "He felt that he had an obligation to look into things, not to micromanage them, but to look into them. I think from his point of view his definition of a chairman or a board member was very expansive, but it maybe taking the role to an extreme."

Of me, this friend added: "I just think if you give the ball to Bob, he will run with it and not have any excuses if he fumbles. (But) he's got to know he has the ball. The problem is when you have two people who think they have the ball. It's an accident waiting to happen ... You had two very strong people in extraordinarily powerful positions who had different visions. And the question was, 'Who was running the show?'" That was the question. Intellectually, I knew some level of adversarial friction in a boardroom is not a bad...