Investors and shareholders expect – and demand – a right to ‘pull back the curtain’ and evaluate the governance quality represented by a company. The fundamental value at work here is to create open and consistently accurate information about how a company governs its operation and strategy.

Obviously, openness and disclosure create a huge opportunity for companies to improve. When called upon to conduct board evaluations, however, reactions from boards of directors run the gamut from ludicrous to lofty. We see a continuum here, from the worst to the progressively avant guard.