Then and now.

• Position: EDITOR'S NOTE - Editorial

WITH OUR "Great Divide" cover story in this edition, you can listen in to a debate by a distinctive group of business thought leaders on the advisability of separating the role of chairman from that of chief executive. This is a governance development that is gaining traction, thanks to an aggressive combination of legislative saber rattling and best practices proselytizing.

This has been a core topic for DIRECTORS& BOARDS. In 1978, two years after the journal was founded, we published a lengthy examination of the pros and cons of separating the roles, following up on the proposition by then SEC Chairman Harold Williams that the two positions should be split. You can imagine what a hot-button topic it was back then, when board governance had a much different character--and cast of characters--than it does now. But in dipping back into our archives, I am constantly surprised by the "then and now" agreements in governance thought leadership. Take note of this comment from our article of 30-plus years ago: "Boards of corporations should be free to separate or combine the functions and should not be locked into one or the other by legislative or regulatory fiat." So said Gerald Laubach, then the president of Pfizer Inc. A similar consensus is reached by our panel in the discussion that starts on page 21.

I don't generally like to be reminded that I featured Dennis Kozlowski on the cover of DIRECTORS& BOARDS This was back in the year 2000--palmier days, certainly, for the head of Tyco International. It may be hard to believe now, but there was a period when he was considered a paragon of good corporate governance.

Well, another then and now. John Gillespie and David Zweig just gave me a pointed reminder of our Kozlowski spotlight when they cited it in their new book, Money for Nothing. At first I didn't know whether to be appalled or flattered. But the book is a good one. Its subtitle...