Hm, to add a bit more nuance, I think it’s okay at a normal startup for a board to be comprised of people who are likely to almost always side with the CEO, as long as they are independent thinkers who could vote against the CEO if the CEO goes off the rails. So, it’s understandable (or even good/necessary) for CEOs to care a lot about having “aligned” people on the board, as long as they don’t just add people who never think for themselves.
It gets more complex in OpenAI’s situation where there’s more potential for tensions between CEO and the board. I mean, there shouldn’t necessarily be any tensions, but Altman probably had less of a say over who the original board members were than a normal CEO at a normal startup, and some degree of “norms-compliant maneuvering” to retain board control feels understandable because any good CEO cares a great deal about how to run things. So, it actually gets a bit murky and has to be judged case-by-case. (E.g., I’m sure Altman feels like what happened vindicated him wanting to push Helen off the board.)
Hm, to add a bit more nuance, I think it’s okay at a normal startup for a board to be comprised of people who are likely to almost always side with the CEO, as long as they are independent thinkers who could vote against the CEO if the CEO goes off the rails. So, it’s understandable (or even good/necessary) for CEOs to care a lot about having “aligned” people on the board, as long as they don’t just add people who never think for themselves.
It gets more complex in OpenAI’s situation where there’s more potential for tensions between CEO and the board. I mean, there shouldn’t necessarily be any tensions, but Altman probably had less of a say over who the original board members were than a normal CEO at a normal startup, and some degree of “norms-compliant maneuvering” to retain board control feels understandable because any good CEO cares a great deal about how to run things. So, it actually gets a bit murky and has to be judged case-by-case. (E.g., I’m sure Altman feels like what happened vindicated him wanting to push Helen off the board.)