A board observer is somebody who attends your board meeting but doesn’t have a voting right. There are also certain points in a board meeting where you can ask the board observers to step out of the room unless they’ve negotiated specific rights that preclude this.
Why do board observers exist? There are actually several type and I’m going to make the case that if you can avoid board observers you generally should and when you do have them you should be thoughtful about how you manage them.
