Having rank-and-file employees on the board seems a little iffy. Maybe it would work if the ownership had some interest in employee perspectives and well-being

Having rank-and-file employees on the board seems a little iffy. Maybe it would work if the ownership had some interest in employee perspectives and well-being--like in the Filene case. Filene strikes me as an outlier though. Without that interest, you're just putting high schoolers up against an NFL team--no match for the wealth, power, and credentials of shareholders and their representatives.