A Traitor to his Class.

• Author: Kozlowski, L. Dennis
• Position: Review

Published by John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York, 378 pages, $29.95

REVIEWED BY L. DENNIS KOZLOWSKI

Bob Monks has been called a lot of things over the years: gadfly, zealot, visionary, crusader, activist, self-aggrandizer...the list goes on. But for all the things that have been said, one thing seems certain: that he has been misunderstood. Until now.

In her book, A Traitor to His Class: Robert A.G. Monks and the Battle to Change Corporate America, Hilary Rosenberg has written a compelling and insightful biography of a man who has made a major contribution to the acceptance of good governance as an article of faith throughout Corporate America. In doing so, she has gone further than anyone to record and reconcile Monks' many passions, ambitions, and failures - but most notably, his many profound and lasting achievements. [Ed. Note: See excerpt on page 104.]

The story of Robert A.G. Monks is fascinating on two levels. First, as the story of a determined entrepreneur - a man who has shown not only the courage to tilt at windmills, but also (for better and worse) the force of personality and ideas to topple them. And second, as a history of the evolution of corporate governance as seen through the life of one of its primary drivers. In both respects, Rosenberg's book is instructive for anyone who wants to understand how corporate governance took root in America, and how power in Corporate America today is - or, according to Monks, should be - shared.

From its very title, the book begins with the conventional view that because Monks was born to wealth and Boston society, he had little obvious incentive to challenge the existing power structure. However, the book then details over the course of a remarkable and often controversial career, Monks' genuine personal belief in the rights of the individual, the value of protecting the environment, and the importance of ethical conduct in business. The book also details his strong belief in his own ability to change things, and a fierce self-motivation that drives him to continually try to do so in a range of incarnations across a very varied career.

Monks realized earlier than most that in the transition from the ownership mentality of the early 20th century to the development of a professional managerial class, corporations had become largely unaccountable. He then set out, to use the old adage, both to do good and to do well by working to change all that by reintroducing the ownership concept. Monks'...