Saving the Corporate Board


Book Description

Ward reveals ten specific failings that are built into our boardroom model and provides real-world fixes to get boards back on track. Ward mixes tart, insightful analogies (what do boards have in common with volunteer fire departments, the U.S. electoral college . . . and Howard Hughes?) with proven nuts-and-bolts advice for putting any board back on track. Order your copy today!




Boardroom Excellence


Book Description

In Boardroom Excellence, author Paul Brountas, a corporate attorney with more than forty years experience, discusses the qualities and components of effective boards in today’s post-Enron environment. Written in a concise format, the book is filled with informative practical advice for board members of private, public, and nonprofit organizations. Boardroom Excellence contains an informed discussion of fundamental corporate governance issues, including the duties and responsibilities of directors and the proper interaction of the board with the CEO and management. Brountas reveals how board members can be most effective when they are independent, possess integrity, are well-informed and involved, and are proactive. Boardroom Excellence offers timely information about Establishing the values and qualities that board members should possess Developing an environment in the boardroom where skepticism and serious discussion are encouraged Understanding what the CEO expects of the board and what the board expects of the CEO Creating effective independent audit, compensation, nominating, and governance committees Formulating guidelines for periodic evaluation of the performance of the board and individual board members




The Board Book


Book Description

"The author's guidance is backed up by research and hundreds of interviews - information that everyone in business can use: senior executives get the tools to create and sustain effective boards; management gets a clear understanding of good corporate governance; directors get essential information on how to optimize their roles; employees get an accurate reading on the health of their company; and investors get a critical benchmark for evaluating a company."--BOOK JACKET.




The New Boardroom Leaders


Book Description

For generations, the cozy, standard model of boardroom leadership was simple: The CEO was also Chairman of the Board, and directors rubberstamped his initiatives. The 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act forced radical change on all U.S. public corporations: The board must now hold sessions without management, key committees have tough new independence rules, and all board members now face an unavoidable legal responsibility to provide truly independent oversight of the corporation. Missteps can put companies and individual directors in serious legal danger. The result is an urgent demand that corporate boards develop their own confident, independent leaders from within. But how? That's something that governance expert Ralph Ward, in The New Boardroom Leaders, explains in detail. Until now, no one has tracked and compiled answers to new, basic governance questions. What should a lead director's job description include? Why is a separate chair not necessarily an independent chair? How do you shape an agenda for meetings of independent directors? How do CEOs and the new board leaders divide their roles? How much power should a separate board leader really have? This book answers these questions and more. Companies are scrambling to create new procedures and roles. But there are few job descriptions for these new boardroom leaders—something this book provides, as well as a wealth of insights and tips. The New Boardroom Leaders offers the first inside look at how board leaders actually do their jobs, based on extensive interviews and research. The emphasis will be on practical advice from real board leaders on what worked in their boardrooms, what didn't, and what they expect in the future. It will become a longtime, worthy guide for board members in the new world brought on by Sarbanes-Oxley and the quest for ever-better, and strictly ethical, corporate performance.




Corporate Boards That Create Value


Book Description

This book applies John Carver's highly successful Policy Governance model to corporate boards. Carver and boardroom consultant Caroline Oliver explain the world's only conceptually coherent operating system for boards. This simple yet profound system clarifies roles, empowers directors and senior management alike, and makes accountability feasible to a previously unattainable degree. The authors suggest a redefinition and elevation of the value that boards should create and show how to apply the Policy Governance design to commanding company performance. Corporate Boards That Create Value gives corporate directors and all who care about governance a powerful tool for success.




The Future of Boards


Book Description

Edited by Harvard Business School professor Jay W. Lorsch, the preeminent authority on corporate boards, this book gathers the leading voices from business and academia to address the challenges of governance in the 21st century. We are at a crucial juncture in the evolution of business and the economy. We must now reshape the structures and practices of business leadership to avoid going down the same path again. To a large extent this is a question of governance and the role of corporate boards, to help us wrestle with critical issues like CEO performance and succession, compensation, and forward-looking strategy. In The Future of Boards, governance sage Jay Lorsch has gathered thought leaders and some of the most experienced voices at Harvard Business School to describe the moment we are in, identify and analyze the salient issues, and chart a course for the future. Articles include Bill George on how boardroom conflicts can be understood and managed; Krishna Palepu on how directors can gain the knowledge necessary to effectively oversee strategy; Lorsch himself and colleague Rakesh Khurana on how boards can set reasonable compensation while still motivating top talent; and Ken Merchant and Kat Pick on group pathologies in the boardroom and how to overcome them. The Future of Boards will be must reading for CEOs, business and industry leaders, policymakers, and anyone involved in influencing and reshaping business in the 21st century.




The Governance Revolution


Book Description

Boards of directors are sitting ducks. Shareholders complain and even attack, management manipulates, and individual board members have little power, able to act only as part of the board as a whole. Governance issues are front and center, yet there is often little understanding, even among board members, of the key role that they play. Written in an accessible and human voice, The Governance Revolution: What Every Board Member Needs to Know, NOW! provides information and context essential to anyone seeking to understand how corporations and their stewards—the board of directors—can and should function in the volatile world we inhabit. Deborah Hicks Midanek offers useful insight into what board members of corporations actually do, the current standards for board members and why they exist. She includes a timely discussion of how clarity of purpose can improve board and director effectiveness. Informed by her long experience serving public, private, and family owned corporate boards as well as those of charitable, and government organizations, she provides essential context regarding the evolution of board practice as well as candid discussion of the issues involved in the relentless effort to improve corporate governance processes. Focused mainly on the dominant public corporation, she also explores the special challenges of serving private and family owned as well as nonprofit and public agency boards. Written by a seasoned board member, and liberally laced with stories and cases illustrating the tricky issues directors wrestle with, this book is the essential common-sense companion for anyone working with a board, serving on a board, or wanting to do so. Directors, aspiring directors, investors, and students of corporate behavior will benefit from this highly readable description of the cloistered boardroom. For Roger Trapp's article in Forbes featuring a discussion of this title click here https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogertrapp/2018/10/22/independent-directors-nehttps://www.forbes.com/sites/rogertrapp/2018/10/22/independent-directors-need-to-stand-up-to-activists/#7060008826b0ed-to-stand-up-to-activists/#7060008826b0 For a Roundtable discussion in Financier Worldwide Magazine featuring Deborah Hicks Midanek please click here https://www.financierworldwide.com/roundtable-risks-facing-directors-officers-aug18#.W1BqQdVKiUk Click here for a review in Financial Analysts Journal https://www.cfapubs.org/doi/abs/10.2469/br.v13.n1.10 Click here for an excerpt on Corporate Board Member: https://boardmember.com/what-is-the-governance-revolution/




The Director's Manual


Book Description

Directors: Improve Board Performance The Director's Manual: A Framework for Board Governance offers current and aspiring board members essential up-to-date governance guidance that blends rigorous research-based information with the wisdom found only through practical, direct experience. The book's flexible approach to solving governance issues reflects the authors' belief that no two boards and the cultural dynamics that drive them are the same. As such, the advice offered reflects recognizable leadership dynamics and real world, relevant organizational situations. The book's two authors, Peter C. Browning, an experienced CEO and member of numerous boards and William L. Sparks, a respected organizational researcher, combine their individual experiences and talents to create a book that is both innovative and applicable to directors in any industry sector. Specific best practice guidance is designed to help board members and their directors understand the unique strengths and challenges of their own board while at the same time provide targeted information that drives needed improvements in board performance and efficiency. Specifically, this book will help board members: Explore practical advice on key issues, including selection, meeting schedules, and director succession Consider board performance from multiple perspectives, including cultural and group dynamics Discover how to effectively manage classic problems that arise when making decisions as a group Access a comprehensive set of assessment questions to test and reinforce your knowledge The Director's Manual: A Framework for Board Governance offers practical advice to guide you as you lead your organization's board.




How Boards Work


Book Description

A New York Times bestselling author and veteran board member offers an insider's view of corporate boards, their struggles, and why they must adapt to survive. Corporate boards are under great pressure. Scandals and malpractice at companies like Theranos, WeWork, Uber, and Wells Fargo have raised justified questions among regulators, shareholders, and the public about the quality of corporate governance. In How Boards Work, prizewinning economist and veteran board director Dambisa Moyo offers an insider's view of corporate boards as they are buffeted by the turbulence of our times. Moyo argues that corporations need boards that are more transparent, more knowledgeable, more diverse, and more deeply involved in setting the strategic course of the companies they lead. How Boards Work offers a road map for how boards can steer companies through tomorrow's challenges and ensure they thrive to benefit their employees, shareholders, and society at large.




Board-Seeker


Book Description

Board-Seeker: Your Guidebook and Career Map into the Corporate Boardroom is the first practical guide written specifically to help board-ready leaders and executives gain the knowledge, resources, and confidence to shape their personal “onboarding” program. Assess your experience that makes you valuable to a board–there’s more than you think. Shape this into a powerful outreach portfolio, such as board resume, online image, and personal pitch. Gain the targeted network and mentors you’ll need, especially your boss! Learn step by step how board searches really happen and how to master each stage. Prepare for the board interview and vetting process, and get ready for your first board meeting. With leads, links, checklists, and first-hand success stories, Board-Seeker spells out each step you’ll take into the boardroom—and beyond.