Boards of directors and society at large

I've written about boards of directors before, but only to the extent to note that they shouldn't necessarily be a rubber stamp for everything that the company officers want to do. But, as BusinessWeek notes, Ira M. Millstein has loftier tasks for the boards:

I heard in Obama's acceptance speech what [columnist] David Brooks labeled the "politics of cohesion": a new personal and mutual responsibility and unity, supporting pragmatism. This will indeed accomplish our goal over time if, and only if, across the entire private sector institutions and individuals alike reset goals and values. For the private sector, specifically the corporates, it means fulfilling their responsibilities to society at large, as well as to their shareholders and stakeholders.

Responsibilities to society? Milton Friedman would freak out.

More here.