The last plane out.

• Author: Rock, Robert H.
• Position: Corporate executives

YOU KNOW what it's like sitting around a board table trying to schedule an ad hoc meeting with your fellow directors. Finding a date, even for a telephone meeting, is not easy, and is made more difficult as over-50-something executives try to figure out how to use their electronic calendars. Directors are some of the most overscheduled and overcommitted executives.

Not so long ago, fitting in a handful of board meetings and a few relatively short committee meetings (scheduled conveniently around the board date) was not too challenging. Board meetings typically lasted the morning, followed by lunch. Directors had little problem making early afternoon planes, which got them home in time for dinner.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Times have changed, especially the demands on a director's time. Board meetings in general and committee meetings in particular are taking up a lot more time. Virtually every board meeting tacks on an executive session, which often includes lengthy discussions on important issues such as CEO succession. And committee meetings, particularly the audit and comp meetings, can take up the better part of a day with their seemingly ever-expanding agendas. Moreover, chairs of these committees must spend countless hours working with management and outside consultants to prepare for these sessions.

During strategic initiatives such as an acquisition or sale and in times of crisis, directors may have weekly and often daily in-person or telephone meetings. When pursuing a recent deal, my fellow directors spoke every day and had at least one board meeting per week. As one of...