Eric Jackson provides a wonderful explanation of what it's like to be a shareholder activist.  He describes his trip to the 2007 Yahoo shareholder meeting at BreakoutPerformance.com.  He arrived annoyed and came away with a better understanding of the company and its workings.   As a matter of fact, he was impressed with how much potential the company has.  That has furthered his resolve to get management to change.

You should try going to a shareholder meeting.  You might even get to meet and be charmed by the CEO, as Eric Jackson did when he met Terry Semel.