As Mr. Dayton said himself, “The job of a trustee is to push for an impossible perfection.”
A New York Times article on Bruce Dayton of Dayton Hudson (aka Target) provides some great insights about what Mr. Dayton thinks is required to be a nonprofit museum trustee. There is wisdom indeed like what Mr. Dayton looks for when recrutiting new trustees to the Minneapolis Institute of Art (considered a mini-Metropolitan Museum of Art): "Mr. Dayton looks for the qualities that he believes Mr. McMillan saw in him: “A real strong interest in art — that’s the No. 1 criterion,” he said. “And then the ability to give and the ability to raise money.”
I am pretty certain that Mr. Dayton belongs to a special class of people who would be trustees of institutions which themselves belong to a special class of nonprofits. Yes, I think there are lessons to be considered from Mr. Dayton. No, I don't think the lessons are universally applicable to all nonprofits except one: every nonprofit board member must be passionate about that nonprofit's mission.