After reading this article I realized I have a completely unrelated nerve wracking situation in my life that could benefit by having a "superior" work for me rather than the other way around.

It sounds like the person is making the best of bad ingredients. This board sounds pretty inherently dysfunctional and he's come up with a structure to mitigate that. I wouldn't say this is a great structure to mandate with any board.

I play buzzword bingo at my boring board meetings: http://www.buzzbuzzbingo.com/Business/Buzzword/

Don't have a board?

Tequila.

Granted, not every board will go for this approach... but the ones that do are the ones to stay on.