We study the stock market's reaction to the unexpected death of a top executive or board chair for insight into grey director incentives. Whereas there is little debate as to the motives of inside and strict outside directors, the allegiance of grey directors is less certain. We find that grey...

Extant research suggests that moderate CEO optimism can be beneficial to the firm. However, little is known about how boards of directors learn the effects of CEO optimism. Evidence from psychology indicates that individuals/groups may learn more from failure than success, while a simple...