On the contrary, I think there is no norm against board members criticizing corporate direction.
I think it is accepted that a member of the board of a for-profit corporation might publicly say that they think the corporation’s X division should be shut down, in order to concentrate investment in the Y division, since they think the future market for Y will be greater than for X, even though the rest of the board disagrees. This might be done to get shareholders on-side for this change of direction.
For a non-profit, criticism regarding whether the corporation is fulfilling its mandate is similarly acceptable. The idea that board members should resign if they think the corporation is not abiding by its mission is ridiculous—that would just lead to the corporation departing even more from its mission.
Compare with members of a legislative body. Legislators routinely say they disagree with the majority of the body, and nobody thinks the right move if they are on the losing side of a vote is to resign.
And, a member of the miltary who believes that they have been ordered to commit a war crime is not supposed to resign in protest (assuming that is even possible), allowing the crime to be committed. They are supposed to disobey the order.
On the contrary, I think there is no norm against board members criticizing corporate direction.
I think it is accepted that a member of the board of a for-profit corporation might publicly say that they think the corporation’s X division should be shut down, in order to concentrate investment in the Y division, since they think the future market for Y will be greater than for X, even though the rest of the board disagrees. This might be done to get shareholders on-side for this change of direction.
For a non-profit, criticism regarding whether the corporation is fulfilling its mandate is similarly acceptable. The idea that board members should resign if they think the corporation is not abiding by its mission is ridiculous—that would just lead to the corporation departing even more from its mission.
Compare with members of a legislative body. Legislators routinely say they disagree with the majority of the body, and nobody thinks the right move if they are on the losing side of a vote is to resign.
And, a member of the miltary who believes that they have been ordered to commit a war crime is not supposed to resign in protest (assuming that is even possible), allowing the crime to be committed. They are supposed to disobey the order.