S.O.S.
Some of us try to be different, but I will grant you it is hard, especially if you are promoted into an established board which will invariably be full of little cliques within it.
Mrs Mac has far more experience than me in this, but if you ask her about one of her proudest moments as a senior manager / director of a listed company it was when she got a death in service clause through in a health business she was working in, so that not just the top tier got it, but the whole company.
She subsequently received a letter from a husband who had lost his wife to cancer, and was left with two young boys to care for. He said her efforts with her board to get this through would mean they got to keep their house. The Chairman of the business grumbled about his bonus all the time this was discussed at the board. Unsurprisingly she subsequently left the business after a board re shuffle, though unfortunately the VC House backed my wife, so it cost a lot of money to get her removed. The CEO subsequently also left under some what of a cloud, but he is still out there undoubtedly, and my wife career never really looked back, and she still goes high when others go low, an aspect of her of which I am extremally proud of.
Cheers
Mr Mac