Tinsley group

The new director (see jonwig's post and the relevant press release) has quite a clutch of board-level positions, but brings with him a worrying record as a director of companies that have failed.

I have a rather simple view on this sort of appointment. If a board member is to be able to make the kind of crucial decisions that could mean the difference between survival and collapse for a company like TNL, s/he needs to know the company inside out (and, just as importantly, the competition too).

While I accept that many non-execs bring experience from other companies and fields which can be of value, experience alone is not enough. This new appointee has 18 other directorships. Working flat out, as I hope he does, that's about a day per month per company. One might question whether he will truly earn whatever his salary may be, giving eight hours in every four weeks, but to me the key question is whether he has any hope of getting into the heart of TNL and really understanding the company and its environment. Without doing that, there's little chance he'll have any positive effect on the company.

I've followed TNL for a number of years, never buying in, yet still believing there's the nugget of a decent company tucked away somewhere. However, the board seems not to have recognized the vital need for not just expertise at board level but outstanding committment too. One day per month for a company which is quite clearly in difficulties - well that's just crazy. If this chap had an outstanding record of bringing companies back from the brink one might be a bit more hopeful, but my reading of his record does not make one optimistic.

Maybe I'll be proved wrong - for the sake of TNL staff I hope I am - but it seems to me as an outsider that the kind of strong leadership that the board must display to rescue the company is yet again missing. What a shame.