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????公司治理研究公司GMI宣傳總監與助理研究員保羅?霍奇森稱，在公司調查報告中，倒閉公司的董事被打上了“危險人物”的標簽。但他表示，CEO卻依然將這些人列入公司董事會成員的候選名單。

????他說：“CEO人才庫小之又小。甚至形成了一個不正常的小圈子?！盙MI正在開發一個數據庫，用于幫助公司客戶擴大遴選董事的范圍。這個數據庫將在下周公布，屆時，“將在這個小圈子上打開一個缺口?！?/p>

????但霍奇森稱：“現在，董事的任務更加艱巨，所需要的技能也更加專業化。不可能隨便拉一個毫無經驗的人擔任董事?！?/p>

‘我也可能有這一天’

????芬克斯坦表示，移情因素也能夠解釋，為何倒閉公司的董事會成員通常能夠重新獲得類似的職位?！岸聲蓡T通常會換位思考……想象同樣的事情也會發生在自己身上?！?/p>

????拉克爾認為，通過審查公司在美國證券交易委員會（SEC）的備案文件發現，安然（Enron）以及其他一些已倒閉公司的董事，不僅保住了自己在上市公司的董事會席位，而且還成為新董事會的成員。斯坦福大學的研究顯示，美國投資銀行貝爾斯登倒閉時在公司任職的12位董事中，有5位目前成為其他上市公司的董事。其中包括弗雷德里克?薩萊諾，他目前在5家公司董事會任職，其中包括哥倫比亞廣播公司（CBS）與維亞康姆公司（Viacom）。

????雷曼兄弟公司的兩位董事目前也在多家著名公司的董事會中任職，包括美高梅集團（MGM Resorts International）、索尼（Sony）與西班牙語電視臺 Telemundo。為避免倒閉，政府出面迫使美聯銀行出售，但公司的10位董事卻依然在多家大型公司董事會任職，包括富國銀行（Wells Fargo）、奧馳亞公司（Altria）、勞氏公司（Lowe's）、卡夫公司（Kraft）和陶氏化學公司等。

????斯坦福大學研究項目負責人拉克爾稱：“這個圈子里存在一個微妙的精英群體。一旦出現問題，這個圈子還能容得下他們嗎？問這個問題就好比問江山易改，本性能能不能移?！?/p>

????譯者：劉進龍/喬樹靜

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????Directors from failed companies are red-flagged in company research reports, says Paul Hodgson, communications director and research associate at corporate governance research firm GMI. But CEOs still pass along these names as potential directors on their company boards, he says.

????"It's a very small pool. It has to be kind of an incestuous feeling," he notes. GMI is developing a database to help company clients expand the kinds of directors they recruit to their boards. The database, which will be unveiled in upcoming weeks, "will crack that circle a little wider," he says.

????However, Hodgson notes, "the job of being a director is more onerous now, and the skills needed are much more exclusive. It's unlikely you would add anyone to the list who does not already have experience."

The 'it could be me' dilemma

????The empathy factor, says Finkelstein, also explains why board members of collapsed companies often sail into similar professional posts. "Board members typically put themselves in the shoes of the other person…. And they could see something like that happening to themselves."

????The result, according to Larcker, is that directors of Enron and other extinct corporations not only remain on the boards of public companies but also have joined new boards, according to its examination of company filings with the SEC. The Stanford study shows that five of the 12 Bear Stearns directors serving when the investment bank imploded are directors of public companies today. That includes Frederic Salerno, who serves on five boards, including CBS (CBS) and Viacom (VIA).

????Two directors of Lehman Brothers now hold board seats at prominent companies like MGM Resorts International (MGM), Sony (SNE) and Telemundo. Ten directors of Wachovia, which was forced to sell itself by the government to avoid failure, went on to serve on the boards of major corporations like Wells Fargo (WFC), Altria (MO), Lowe's (LOW), Kraft (KFT) and Dow Chemical.

????"There's an amorphous, elite group that's in the pool," says Larcker, who directed the Stanford study. "When something goes bad, are those people still acceptable? Do leopards change their spots?"