Protector, supporter, auditor: Reginald Jones (1917-2003) was well-schooled, and schooled others well, in the ways of directorship.

• Position: ENDNOTE

ONE OF THE WISE MEN of governance has passed from the scene. Reginald H. Jones, chairman and CEO of General Electric Co. during the 1970s, died on December 30, 2003. A U.S. News & World Report survey in 1979 of some 1,400 American leaders voted Jones the country's most influential businessman. Two years later, Fortune magazine asked the CEOs of the top 500 corporations to name the best CEO on the list. "Jones's victory was resounding: one-third of the respondents picked him," Fortune reported. He presided during a time of growth for the company and also a time of growing interest in corporate governance. Jones was co-chairman of the Business Roundtable from 1974 to 1980, a period when the BRT undertook a major examination of the governance of American corporations and issued a groundbreaking report that is still referenced in the business literature.

Jones retired from GE in April 1981, capping a career that began when he joined the company's business training course in 1939. On the occasion of its 10th anniversary of publication in 1986, DIRECTORS & BOARDS interviewed Jones for his personal reflections on the "state of the board." He was 69 at the time and serving as a director of Bethlehem Steel Corp., Federated Department Stores, General Signal Corp., and several other corporate and pro bono boards. Following are selected excerpts from the resulting article.

On the role of a board of directors: I have always said that the most precious asset of any corporation is its public franchise. I feel very strongly that our large publicly held corporations, on whose boards so many of us serve, are viewed in the United States today as quasi-public institutions. The corporation is going to exist only so long as the public wishes it to exist. And it is in its role as a supporter and an auditor of management--in determining the accountability of management for performance in the interest of the shareowners, the public, and other stakeholders--that the board is performing its most essential function.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

On how the board fosters innovation and self-renewal: It's very important that the board be apprised of the strategic planning of the corporation and be periodically updated on the plan. We make a point at General Electric of revealing our strategic plan to the full board annually, and then we make in-depth presentations to the board on certain aspects of the plan as the year wears on. A board should have an opportunity not just to...