Triple duty

The traditional duties of corporate board members in the US have been reinterpreted in recent time to take on more urgent, proactive meanings. Whereas in the past, board members were held to ?hear no evil, see no evil? standards, recent scandals, legislation and court decisions have meant that outside directors must now take pains not only to respond to wrongdoing when it is detected, but to establish systems that will detect problems, as well as to spend more time engaged in actively scouring their companies for signs of trouble. Legal experts often organize the various duties of board members into ?duties.?