近年来商界轰动一时的大事件给我们的一个主要教训是，公司拥有顶尖高管几乎就足够了，但也只是几乎。如果董事会行事有误，那么所有事情都会出问题。想想贝尔斯登（Bear Stearns）和雷曼兄弟（Lehman Brothers）这些广为人知的破产案，或者新闻集团（News Corp.）代价高昂的电话窃听丑闻，在这些事件中，公司董事会都忽视了他们本该留意的重大风险。因此，我们在推出梦之队专题之际，专门探讨了所有顶尖公司的根基所在：一个梦幻般的董事会。

    伟大的董事会需要兼备多种能力，而精挑细选的董事通常能够贡献不止一种专长。其中最重要的能力如下：

全球视野

    许多公司在引进真正的全球化董事方面进展迟缓，令人叹为观止。仅仅持有外国护照或者去国外度过假并不能说明问题。

财务专长

    萨班斯-奥克斯利法案（Sarbanes-Oxley）要求每一家上市公司的董事会都要有一名专职“财务专家”，审计委员会已经成为对董事能力要求最高的任务。

深刻理解信息技术

    信息技术可以说是塑造全球商业格局最重要的一股力量。董事会需要的董事必须能够抓住信息技术会给公司战略和商业模式带来的改变。

睿智、富有经验和勇气

    董事会长期面临两大问题是：董事要么大气都不敢出，要么口无遮拦，但却根本不知道自己在说些什么。颇有年资、眼光独到、自信果断的董事堪比黄金（即便是以目前的黄金价格来计算也不为过）。

    A major lesson in the business dramas of recent years is that great executives are almost -- but not quite -- enough. If the board of directors isn't right, then nothing's right. Consider famous failures like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, or costly scandals like News Corp.'s (NSWA) phone-hacking debacle, in which the boards missed major risks they should have caught. So as we wind up our Dream Team series, we focus on the foundation of any top company: a dream board.

    A great board combines several competencies, and well-chosen directors often bring more than one of them. Top of the list now:

Global perspective

    It's amazing how slowly many companies have added genuinely global directors. A foreign passport or a history of exotic vacations doesn't cut it.

Financial expertise

    Sarbanes-Oxley requires that every public company's board include a designated "financial expert," and the audit committee has become a director's most demanding assignment.

Deep understanding of infotech

    It's arguably the largest force shaping global business. Boards need directors who grasp how infotech will change every company's strategies and business models.

Wisdom, experience, and courage

    Two enduring problems on boards are directors who don't speak up and directors who speak up but don't know what they're talking about. The right mix of gray hair, perspective, and assertiveness is worth its weight in gold (even at today's price).