Better positioned to compete: Sara Lee's move away from a 'dangerously narrow' board profile.

• Author: Bryan, John H.

From "Allegiance to a Diverse Board," Mr. Bryan's article published in Directors & Boards [Spring 1995] when he was chairman and CEO of Sara Lee Corp.

In 1975, when I came to my position, our company's board consisted of 12 insiders, plus the heads of two of our nation's major banks, and a prominent lawyer from San Francisco. As one of our initial steps, we were able to persuade the board to do a rather abrupt reorganization of itself. As a consequence, seven insiders left the board and an equal number of prominent outside businessmen soon replaced them. It was a relatively smooth change, and since that time the company has been governed by a board in which most of all the directors are persons of substantial reputation and persons highly independent of the management of the company.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The inclusion on our board of people who are from diverse backgrounds began reasonably soon after our early board reorganization. Thus, for many years Sara Lee has been governed by a board which has included a number of women, minorities, and foreign nationals.

Our board is made up of 14 outside directors (from a total of 18). The majority of these outside directors have served as CEOs of some of the world's largest firms. It is, I think, very important for a corporation to have...