An idea whose time has come?

They say timing's everything. No sooner do I launch this Better Boards blog than billionaire investor Carl Icahn (estimated by Wikipedia to be the 18th richest man in the America) decides to do the same thing!

Reuters reports that Icahn, who first came to public attention with his 1985 takeover of TWA (remember them?), and who has been described as the shrewdest investor on the planet is establishing a blog to discuss ideas on corporate governance, an area in which he has strong opinions [surprise!].

"[The US] is losing its economic hegemony," Icahn said at a corporate governance conference in New York. "I want to see who is interested in this. I really think there's a lot to do."

I shall be interested to see how opinions in America compare with ours. Whatever the views, this only demonstrates that more and more focus is coming onto how boards work, and whether they help or detract from the creation of shareholder wealth.

And that's something we should all, as directors, be interested in.