Crisis-bred schizophrenics: the 2008 financial meltdown bred a whole new cast of characters in my and other CEOs' boardrooms.

• Author: Boni, Peter J.
• Position: BOARD DYNAMICS

My Safeguard Scientifics board was strong, able and well equipped to deal with whatever came their way. Or so I thought! We worked well together for a few years to reposition Safeguard from its failed first attempt to regroup from the bursting of the Internet bubble. We enabled a collective wisdom which emanated from the diverse set of skills and experiences that members brought to the table. We were succeeding. Then the world changed--the financial crisis!

My CEO circle agreed that the stress, fear, uncertainty and doubt stemming from an unprecedented global financial meltdown had negatively impacted each of our boardroom dynamics. We compared notes and found some common themes. To our chagrin, the financial crisis bred a whole new cast of characters who newly occupied those board seats. Schizophrenia reigned. Some of these characters took on multiple personalities. Who were these people?

* Aristotle: Brought deep philosophy about esoteric topics that had no bearing on the situation.

* Chicken Little: Warned that the sky was always falling.

* Mr. Know It All: Knew how to do it and would do it with or without you. Step aside!

* Nervous Nell: Shook and shivered at anything, whether it moved or not.

* Pope Pontificator: Made decrees with incomplete pieces of Information.

* The Old Ranger: Lamented for the old days and only talked about how much fun they were.

* Walter Mitty: Distracted management and the board to vet multiple hair-brained schemes.

* Steady Eddie: Kept his (or her) head and didn't succumb to schizophrenia.

* The Waffler: Posed as Steady Eddie but would acquiesce to curry favor from a loud voice.

Napoleon defined a military genius as "a man who can do the average when all around him are going crazy." That summed up what was happening in many a boardroom, certainly in my own. Fortunately, in my case, there were a few Steady Eddies. We kept our heads, streamlined the activity schedule, defined our critical success factors and focused on overcoming the obstacles that the financial crisis put before us. It took a year to come out the other end of this chaos, and we came...