So, you’ve been asked to join a board? You’ll surely do your own due diligence, but beware of a potentially dangerous threat: your own brain
I often ask senior executives and experienced directors if they want to join the board of a hypothetical company. I disguise its name but the company is Parmalat, a multinational Italian dairy company that collapsed in 2003 with a EUR14 billion hole in its finances. With all the information in front of them, typically about a third accept. It is not lack of data, of expertise or of ethics. It is deeper than that. Our brain wants to believe. So, before you accept the offer of a position on a board, consider the following pitfalls.
Image: http://knowledge.insead.edu
