A rich blend.

THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY every year puts on an excellent corporate governance conference, which I have been pleased to participate in. The Washington, D.C.-based organization brings together attorneys, judges, and business leaders interested in examining and improving the state of the law. The conferences have sparked important debate about a wide range of issues regarding board composition, powers and responsibilities; CEO succession and compensation; and the role of public pension funds and other institutional investors.

At its most recent conference this past fall, I moderated a panel on "Recent Developments in Shareholder Democracy and Activism." The panel members brought useful insights to the topic, if I say so myself, and after our allowed time ran out we turned the dais over to Jeff Sonnenfeld to moderate the follow-on panel. Well, after listening to Jeff's colleagues come at the subject of "The CEO as Captain of Industry: A Dying Breed?" I knew instantly that I wanted to share that particular discussion with the DIRECTORS & BOARDS audience. It took a little while to get it through the transcription and editing process and to match up with our editorial deadlines, but the resulting article is an unusually rich blend of governance insights -- a dash of history, a dose of best practices advice, a sprinkling of veteran wisdom and youthful aspirations re the exercise of CEO and board leadership, and other ingredients that will, I trust, reward your sampling of its contents.

My kudos to Jeff for his masterful way of moderating a panel -- his deft touch with ideas and panelists gives me a model to aspire to --...

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