"Corporate Board Member" Magazine, November/December 2007

In a roundup article featuring quotes from corporate directors across the country, Manchester's Chairman and CEO, Mark Sheffert, was featured as follows:

"Do you find CEOs more or less willing to listen to boards today than in the past?"

I’ve served on 38 boards in my career, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to smaller companies. Every once in a while I have to sit down with CEOs and remind them that the board giveth and the board taketh away—that they serve at the pleasure of the board, and while they might be talented, it can be very lonesome if you have your board breathing down your neck. CEOs need the board on their side, and becoming an adversary is the beginning of a death spiral for a CEO. If you have an egocentric CEO, sometimes you just have to sit him down and explain that this company is going to be directed by the directors and it won’t be a situation of the tail wagging the dog.

Mark W. Sheffert, 60
Chairman and CEO, Manchester Cos., Minneapolis
BNC Corp., Health Fitness Corp.