This is especially likely
given that only 7% of surveyed directors indicated that their company had term limits for
board members. Nevertheless, 60% of U.S. boards and 58% of European boards have a
mandatory retirement age—typically around 70.60 Research reveals that boards rated as least
effective by the Corporate Library, a corporate governance research firm, tend to have
members serving longer (an average of 9.7 years) than boards rated as most effective
(7.5 years).61 Directors selected by the CEO often feel that they should go along with any
proposal the CEO makes.