Several top banks have sought to remake their boards in the wake of the financial crisis, and there's lots of opinion about how successful that has been. One goal of course has been to bring on more outsiders who are not beholden to the CEO and/or chairman. We've certainly seen more banks aim for this.

A good example is Bank of America, which has just announced that Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man and leader of Reliance Industries, joined its board of directors, adding an international flavor to the once-embattled board. The board, which has been in flux over the past several years, has sought not just outsiders, but outsiders with strong operation and regulatory experience.

But the fact is that while many boards are seeking more outsiders, recruiting is getting harder every day.

Goldman Sachs director H. Lee Scott, the former Walmart CEO, has announced he will leave the board after only one year of service. The departure comes just a few months after he wrapped up his work helping to oversee an effort to reform the bank's business practices, which generated lots of headlines and was no doubt an arduous endeavor. The job ended up demanding significantly more time than he had expected, notes the Financial Times.

Scott's experience is not unique. Many have said that director jobs are more time-consuming that ever, even for people who are retired, especially at top banks.

For more:
- here's the article
- here's an FT article about the new Bank of America director

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