"This, too, shall pass."
So says Thomas J. Perkins, a venture capitalist who resigned from Hewlett-Packard's board in May, in response to the current drama surrounding the company's involvement in the potentially
illegal monitoring of directors and journalists.
But, is that aphorism the best approach for tackling the scandal? The conspicuous absence of HP's PR executives in this case raises the question: How involved should PR representatives be in the
boardroom? All the goings-on since the news broke - namely, the shuffling of board member positions - have been an effort to minimize damage to the brand, but the PR component is all but invisible in the
media. That said, a Sept. 21 piece in The New York Times reports that "In a Jan. 20 e-mail message, the company's head of communications, Robert Sherbin, wrote to [Chairwoman Patricia Dunn] that
'I'm afraid it's my duty to tell you that there's been another leak around the board.'" Conclusion? The seat at the table is last year's struggle; the seat in the boardroom should be this year's.