Refreshing the 'gang'.

• Author: Kristie, James
• Position: EDITOR'S NOTE - Editorial

The term "board refreshment" is the one the governance world has been using for the past couple of years as shorthand for giving more rigorous attention to board composition. Such attention is well warranted.

I think back to the days when I first joined Directors & Boards. The prevailing attitude in the early 1980s when boards were in the hunt for a new member was, "Let's get the best person available." The best person, no surprise, often was a friend of the CEO. Boards today are more inclined to take a look around the table and see who is missing--i.e., what knowledge base, skill sets, perspectives, and diversity dimensions are lacking in the board's makeup--along with who just doesn't "fit" anymore. This is a good thing to be happening. It is the essence of board refreshment, as long as such gaps are not only identified but then filled with stronger hands to move the board and company forward.

There have been advisories aplenty in the pages of Directors 8c Boards on doing board refreshment. A big focus has been on beefing up the board's technology expertise. Critics have spotted significant shortfalls in boards' oversight of the technology component of business operations and of their failure to adopt proper risk policies and practices. Take a reading of Shellye Archambeau's article (page 43) for a sound analysis of this board role.

Another aspect of board refreshment is simply having a better understanding of your fellow members. This is the contribution that Ralph Stow makes with his distinctive cover story, "Do You Have a Gang on Your Board?" (page 18). This is a groundbreaking article for us, as we have never had an author profile in this way the personality types that populate a board. As Ralph writes, "Each adds their own unique value to a board, and each must be managed appropriately to truly leverage their benefit." Authors Dennis Cagan and Peter...