Originally Posted by
Sunfish
Blackout:
You are utterly wrong about what Boards do. I had a few like you try to get around me and front the Board when I was a CEO because they thought their pet schemes would be approved if only they could explain them to the Board in person.
‘’Board discussions in a company with a good chairman are often, uncomfortable, aggressive, abrasive, forthright and cover subjects that would make the average employee consider suicide. It is not a job for the faint of heart. The financial penalties for illegality are huge and the public consequences of getting it wrong...well, you can see EB’s reputation now.
That second paragraph if it wasn’t so sad would be one of the...I don’t even know how to describe it.
To say a board member has a ‘tough’ role with ‘abrasive’ conversations in an air conditioned boardroom is so bad that an ‘average’ employee would consider suicide is just ridiculous. If a board member ever gets something wrong they leave with a golden handshake and a well done and move onto their other 10 roles. The VA board never had control over the company yet they all walk away scot free of any penalty and probably a payout there some where too. How many Australian board members have ever been convicted of their incompetence? If they ever got a fine for it, no doubt it is covered by their company paid for insurance.
There was a famous Australian cricketer who had also been a fighter pilot in WW2. He was asked by a journalist what the pressure was like of being a cricket player for Australia. His reply was along along the lines of ‘that is not pressure, pressure is having a Messerschmitt on your arse’.
Sitting in a comfy chair in a boardroom chucking handbags at each other whilst sipping Perrier water contemplating what Michelin Star restaurant you will be having your 3 course meal from and should you have the red or white with it is not tough. Indeed as we have seen countless times it is the ultimate in a blameless culture that pilots would be envious of.
edit to give proper credit for the quote
Keith Miller AM MBE (RAAF WWII pilot) ‘Pressure...I will tell you what pressure is. Pressure is a Messerschmitt up your arse. Playing cricket is not’.