If 80% of their business was from Japan, they would have a lot of Japanese on the board. If 80% of their business was from the Circus, they would have a lot of Clowns, freaks, carnies, animal trainers and showmen on the board. You put people on your board that can contribute relationships with or knowledge about how the customer works and what they want. But, you also want to put people on the board that can contribute a diverse set of experiences to the high-level decision making process.
In addition, former high-ranking military are often great leaders. That was their job for their careers in the Military. Wouldn't you want to have some leaders on your board too ? In spite of what you may have seen on TV, there are some very high caliber people that come from high-ranking careers in the military. They are generally good leaders, very clear about heir objectives, well traveled, conservative, have lead large organizations and large projects or various natures, and have been customers of the organization they now serve.
While you see this as loading the board with people that will keep the smoke-filled and dark room of co-conspirators stocked with other cronies, I see it as a savvy business move. It's the same move I would make if I ran a company like theirs.
Now, cut through the FUD and look at the actual Board of Directors. Not nearly as many Military as your comments would suggest. Certainly not "all".
http://www.saic.com/corporategovernance/bod.html
At 07:28 AM 2/15/2005 -0800, you wrote:
On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 01:50:32 -0800 (PST), Neil Schneider <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > It's not a coincedence that the whole board of directors is all > retired high-ranking military officers, however.
Good point. Very well put.
You don't have to be paranoid to recognize that SAIC holds a position with the federal government that few other companies do. A position beyond simple "contractor".
-todd -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
-- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
