By Eric Vieland
Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, LLP

A healthy board of directors serves an important function that an individual manager, no matter how skilled, could not. It provides a reservoir of diverse knowledge and experience, deeper and broader than that which an organization can muster on a daily basis.

Many boards will tend to drift with little diversity, since it is usually easier and more comfortable for a board to identify new members who are much like the existing members. But diversification is an important process, and a rewarding one for organizations that pursue it diligently.