In the past few decades, the power of organizations' boards of directors has been usurped by dominant CEOs. At a significant price. We need only witness the folly of the CEOs of Enron, WorldCom and others to wonder where the boards were?

A study by Jianyun Tang, Mary Crossan and W. Glenn Rowe, published in the Journal of Management Studies, concludes that dominant CEOs, who are the most powerful figures in the organization, drive companies to extremes of performance. The key idea here is that a dominant CEO may lead a firm to a deviant strategy which can result in significant success or big losses. The authors conclude that organizations need strong boards to balance the power of the CEOs and serve as a needed watchdog.

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