'Tis the season.

• Author: Rock, Robert H.
• Position: LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN

THE WEEK BEFORE Thanksgiving, my wife and I had dinner with the directors and top executives of one of my board companies. Spouses were invited, and most attended this annual holiday event. On January 31, my wife and I will attend a similar dinner for another board. In between, we will dine at gatherings of two other public company boards, as well as holiday celebrations for six charitable/civic boards. Celebrating "the holidays" can fill up the calendar well beyond the traditional last two weeks of December. The holiday season now extends almost three months. That's a lot of holiday cheer!

Given the ever-increasing demands placed on boards, the last thing a director wants is another board dinner. Board meetings often start with a meal the night before, which historically had allowed for some unstructured social interaction. But with expanding board agendas, these dinners are now used to begin the formal board meeting. As one director lamented to me, "The opportunity to get to know your fellow directors over dinner is getting crowded out, replaced with a seemingly endless list of board items."

The holiday board dinner is a good time to catch up on what's happening in the lives of your fellow directors and their families. In the past, directors, often hand-picked by the chairman, would know one another from connections such as country clubs, school affiliations, and charitable organizations. Board members did not require social events to get to know one another. Today, nominating committees, often using search firms, select board members who bring specific skills and backgrounds, and these selections no longer come from the "old boys' network." Consequently, today's directors frequently have...