Fascinating! I wonder if this has predictive value, too -- if, for example, a board member who was on the board of a poorly-performing company predicts poor performance in the future.
Unfortunately, boards are pretty toothless. Lately, it looks like a single hedge fund with 5% of the stock and no board seats can cause more change within the firm than board insiders can -- on the other hand, the changes that happen internally may just be more subtle (e.g. if the audit committee gradually relaxes standards, it doesn't show up in the headlines until there's a disaster, and then it's hard to trace it to who is actually responsible).
Unfortunately, boards are pretty toothless. Lately, it looks like a single hedge fund with 5% of the stock and no board seats can cause more change within the firm than board insiders can -- on the other hand, the changes that happen internally may just be more subtle (e.g. if the audit committee gradually relaxes standards, it doesn't show up in the headlines until there's a disaster, and then it's hard to trace it to who is actually responsible).