"There is more of a move these days for directors to give each other feedback during—or in addition to—an annual board assessment, and that can help mitigate the risk that you end up with ‘zombie’ directors in the first place," said Peter Thies, managing director.

“People talk. It reinforces the need for a rational, explainable, and defensible set of pay practices and policies so you're beyond criticism or reproach," said Ed Steinhoff, managing director at Pearl Meyer.

Instead of receiving a large, guaranteed salary, “the view is that there should be more accountability and more performance orientation to executive compensation,” said Aalap Shah, managing director.