Do you own any individual stock of a public company? It does not matter if it is large or small, you will regularly receive notifications to cast you ballot for who will sit on the Board of Directors of that company. If you do receive them you probably ignore it, like I typically do.
When I ignore the voting forms I recognize that I am probably letting the CEO of the company dictate who is on their board. The Board of Director’s main responsibility is to ensure that the CEO is running the company for the benefits of the shareholders, but also looking out for the long term benefit of the company as well. A major challenge no matter what size the company may be.
This is why mutual fund companies and pension funds put representatives on a company’s Board. They want to make sure that their assets are being maximized so they can keep their jobs.
But there is a brilliant example of a fund manager who grabbed a company and twisted it to his purposes and killed two long term institutions, K-Mart and Sears.
I have seen local Not for Profits raided of their assets and run into the ground for the benefit of the few against the well-being of the many.
These voting cards matter, if you own the stock, why did you buy it? Why have you kept it? Is that Board member going to follow what your vision was? Do your research, review these people and vote. Otherwise those who have a vested interest in their own agenda will win and trump your vision.