We’ve always had a soft spot for challenges to conventional wisdom—and as financial reform legislation looms, there is no better time for a bout of it.
Looking back on more than a quarter century of corporate governance history, we’re struck by how much change occurs because of lonely, almost solitary challenges to the established order of things, as well as through legislation. Where would modern corporate governance be without Robert Monks’ attempt to run for the board of directors at Sears in 1991—the first modern short-slate proxy fight, which cemented the focus of shareowners on the board of directors? Or ...