What role do these foreign nationals play in helping U.S. companies go global?
I think it’s dangerous to set up a specific role for a foreign national director. Their obligations are the same as any other director on the board. Five years ago, people thought of hiring foreign nationals to be door openers or marketers. What smart corporations are figuring out is that those are people you want to have on your management staff, not on your board. If you just want door openers with regulators, set up a board of advisers or hire a consultant. Being on a U.S. corporate board has a lot more responsibility than that. How then do they help? They do the same thing any other board member does. They sit on audit committees and compensation committees. But what they’re going to give is their insights and perspectives on a country that an American may not have. Diversity used to be defined by race or gender. In our era, we’re talking about diversity of thought and diversity of perspective. Give me an example of a midsize company that has internationalized its board. State Stre
