Jona Raasch, president of The Governance Institute, welcomed attendees to the conference, which she noted comes at an interesting time politically, given the intense focus on healthcare reform. She referenced a recent article in Newsweek suggesting that the media may be focused on the wrong issues in assessing President Obama’s performance thus far. Rather than focusing on what has or has not been accomplished from a legislative perspective, the article noted that a better way to assess the president is to look at his job as a leader—i.e., whether he picked his team based on merits or politics; whether he is looking for victories or tough battles; whether he is embracing innovation; and whether he has improved confidence in the leadership of the country. These same questions should be asked of board chairs and CEOs—that is, whether they are doing the things that great leaders need to do.

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