I went to an AICD lunch today to hear Richard LeBlanc speak.
He argued forcefully that an independent director does not make a board effective if he or she is not competent.
He argued that competency needs to be addressed by firstly looking at the collective competencies required by the board and then looking at which directors satisfy the required competencies. He also said that the way a director, and in particular the chairman, behaves and interacts with other directors is critical.
A more detailed analysis of his views on board composition and director assessments can be found in his article "Preventing future Hollingers".
He says that " at the centre of the Hollinger fiasco are the discretion and influence of controlling shareholder Conrad Black, and the stacking of the board with so-called "trophy" directors, many of whom were independent, formally at least, but were accused of being considerably less than competent in the Breeden report ".