Recently, the news has been filled with reports about a particular Fortune 100 company, and how it addressed leaks from the board of directors.  These reports have triggered Congressional hearings and much public debate and comment.  The focus so far has been on where the investigation went wrong.  However, I think an equally critical issue to address is how to address leaks from a company’s board.  Board leaks about pre-announced events such as acquisitions, mergers, spin-offs, and hiring/firing of executives could allow for some to benefit financially from this privileged information.  If the chairman of the board suspected leaks and did nothing to plug them, would the chairman be complicit in insider trading?
Here are some ideas on how to deal with leaks.
1) Lecture the board – Ask each person 1 on 1 if he or she is leaking the information.  Remind each one individually of his/her responsibility to the company regarding this privileged information.  This approach was tried in the latest scandal.  It neither revealed the leaker nor stopped the leaking.
2) Lecture the media – Ask the reporter/media outlet to reveal the leaker.  Remind them of the harm it does to the company/markets to have insider information leaked.  Can the media be held accountable for revealing privileged information?  I do not think so.  Although this approach was not tired, it would probably not work.  It would also alert the media to the fact there are leaks on the board which is something the company wants to keep secret.
3) Crime Stoppers approach – Offer a monetary reward leading to information regarding leaking from board members.  This could entice people associated with the leaker, the reporter, or the media outlet to reveal the leaker.  It has the downside of alerting people to the fact that there is leaking on the board.  However, if it was a standing policy this could be avoided.  Perhaps it should be administered by an outside group?
4) Sequester the board – Anytime that the board is aware of pre-announced information, keep them isolated and away from any contacts.  Take them to a remote area and keep them off the communications network.   This has many obvious drawbacks.  The board will probably always have something that should not be shared, so they may have to stay out of touch indefinitely.  Also, you want your board members to have as much information as possible to make the best possible decisions, so this could be undesirable.  It would be very difficult to enforce, people that want to connect find ways.
5) Board members agree to be investigated – What if we required access to phone records, permission to be spied on, access to emails, etc. as part of being a board member?  As a board member, there would be the expectation that the company would be following you and observing you.  The downside with this approach is that people would not sign up to be board members.  Also, it probably would not work.  Most spying works because the target is unaware of it.  If people felt they were being watched, they would find ways to communicate undetected.  Plus, if board members submit to this, how long will it be before they expect all the employees to submit to it as well?  This would definitely put us on the road to a Fahrenheit 451 type world.
6) Routinely give people on the boards “tracers” – Tracers in this case would be “sensitive” information that would only be given to one board member at a time.  If the information got out, then you found your leak.  This would not work as well, because if it was routine, then the board would know about it.  They would also suspect this information as being a tracer.  They only have to ask others if they had heard about it.  Plus, you need trust between your board members.
Can you think of any other ways?  If so, please leave them in the comments section.