1950s GROUP OF BUSINESSMEN MEETING AROUND TABLE WOMAN SECRETARY TAKING NOTES (Photo by H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images)
In Roman mythology the two-faced god Janus has one face looking forward towards the future and one backward toward the past guarding against any lurking surprises. This may be an apt description of a single corporate director or officer, who carries substantial personal obligations and liabilities in steering their companies forward with an eye to the past. The expectations on modern boards, however, are not just singular and bidirectional, boards are expected to form an omnipresent panopticon where all facets of their organizations and the attendant risks are not only known to them, but measured, managed and mitigated in a mythical form of supergovernance.
Corporate and institutional governance along with myriad organizational failures have been on the docket lately. There is much to learn from where governance goes awry and unwanted sunlight shines through the dark recesses of how large institutions are run. It does not help that every emerging risk, opportunity and trend is laid at the board’s feet as something a…
