The Board Book: An Insider's Guide for Directors and Trustees


Book Description

"By far the best book on corporate and institutional governance." —Nicholas Katzenbach, former attorney general of the United States In his new foreword to The Board Book, former Mellon Foundation and Princeton University president William G. Bowen brings his immense experience to bear on the most pressing questions facing boards of directors and trustees today: seeking collaborative relationships and placing a renewed emphasis on sustainable initiatives. The strategies Bowen relates throughout the book foster the collegiality and sense of purpose—more important in today’s turbulent times than ever before—that are integral to any effective board.




The Art of Director Excellence


Book Description

"How would you compare what you expected of board service versus the reality?" "What do you want to say to lifelong learners of corporate governance?" Compiling wisdom and practical knowledge from interviews with over 40 board directors, spanning board chairs and CEOs at public companies, private companies, and nonprofit organizations, The Art of Director Excellence, Volume 1 presents insightful answers to these questions and more. It explores a variety of important topics in corporate governance, including developing business strategy with management, navigating risks, being a board chair or committee member on different types of boards, and improving ESG and diversity, along with the many differences in how these decisions are handled in North America, Asia, and Europe. While this book is an invaluable asset for both new and existing board directors inside the boardroom, it has use outside it as well. The real-world wisdom and experience in this volume will complement academic textbooks as shown in the appendix, which cross references commonly used textbooks to show how this book matches their contents. Academics, business school faculty and students in executive education, as well as graduate and undergraduate corporate governance classes will benefit immensely from this book. Emerging leaders in investment banking, proxy advisory, and executive recruiting will gain knowledge of the inner workings of the boardroom.




Changing the Game


Book Description

How a visionary university and foundation president tackled some of the thorniest problems facing higher education As provost and then president of Princeton University, William G. Bowen (1933–2016) took on the biggest and most complex challenges confronting higher education: cost disease, inclusion, affirmative action, college access, and college completion. Later, as president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, he took his vision for higher education—and the strategies for accomplishing that vision—to a larger arena. Along the way, he wrote a series of influential books, including the widely read The Shape of the River (coauthored with Derek Bok), which documented the success of policies designed to increase racial diversity at elite institutions. In Changing the Game, drawing on deep archival research and hundreds of interviews, Nancy Weiss Malkiel argues that Bowen was the most consequential higher education leader of his generation. Bowen, who became Princeton’s president in 1972 at the age of 38, worked to shore up the university’s financial stability, implement coeducation, and create a more inclusive institution. Breaking through the traditional Ivy League demographics of white, Protestant, and male, he embraced equal access in admissions for women and men and actively sought to enroll Black, Hispanic, and Asian American students. To “increase the intellectual muscle of the faculty,” he used targeted recruiting and enforced higher scholarly standards. In 1988, Bowen moved on to Mellon, where, among many other accomplishments, he developed digital research tools, most notably JSTOR, and promoted racial diversity through the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship. Attacking problems with tenacity, insight, and deep knowledge, Bowen showed the world of higher education how a visionary leader can transform an institution.




Encyclopedia of Business in Today′s World


Book Description

2009 RUSA Outstanding Business Reference Business in today′s world is increasingly diverse. Undertaking commerce, even by an individual, can mean working globally through a welter of new media with opportunities of all kinds rapidly appearing. The boundaries, scope, content, structures, and processes of a business activity can morph into completely different ones in the course of a project. Contemporary businesses, and certainly future businesses, find it incumbent upon them to fit within the requirements of environmental and economic sustainability of the others who inhabit our world. With more than 1,000 entries, the Encyclopedia of Business in Today′s World is packed with essential and up-to-date information on the state of business in our world. Not only does it reflect where business is, it also conveys the trajectory of business farther into the 21st century. These four volumes provide clear overviews of the important business topics of our time, ranging from culture shock to currency hedging, political risk, offshoring, and transnational corporations. The wealth of topics represent an integrated vision by the editor of a perplexity of functions, technologies, and environmental factors. Key Features Provides insight into the development and current business situation globally through articles on many individual countries Examines the processes, responsibilities, and ethics of business in the global market Offers entries written by experts from diverse fields Includes an appendix that looks at World Trade Organization statistics Presents a vast range of topics, including key companies, business policies, regions, countries, dimensions of globalization, economic factors, international agreements, financial instruments, accounting regulations and approaches, theories, legislation, management practices and approaches, and much more Key Themes Competitive Forces Countries Corporate Profiles Cultural Environments Economics of International Business Economic Theories of International Business Ethics, Corruption, and Social Responsibility Export/Import Strategies Foreign Direct Investment Globalization and Society Human Resource Management International Accounting International Finance International Monetary System International Trade Legal and Labor Issues Management and Leadership Manufacturing and Operations Marketing Political Environments Regional Economic Integration Supranational and National Organizations The Encyclopedia of Business in Today′s World serves as a general, nontechnical resource for students, professors, and librarians seeking to understand the development of business as practiced in the United States and internationally.




On Board


Book Description

“In equal parts a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of some of our best-loved institutions and a guide on how governing boards should work” - HRDirector Throughout the world, thousands of people give their time, skill and energy to serving on a board. From local councils to international corporations – boards play a critical role in the running and success of any organisation, large and small. In On Board John Tusa brings us behind the closed doors of the boardroom to provide an insight into the inner-working of boards. From personal squabbles to financial crises, Tusa shares his experiences serving on a wide variety of international boards such as the British Museum and American Public Radio. These lively life-stories unveil how boards overcome deep-set divisions, appoint new members and survive in times of chaos. Through these stories, Tusa provides lessons and tips on how to effectively operate in cooperative business environments. Tusa teaches the reader how to overcome the big egos and how to work collaboratively yet effectively. On Board is not only an engaging foray into the vibrant career of John Tusa - it is also a comprehensive guide to anyone who struggles to work on boards or committees - or in any cooperative environment.




Saving Alma Mater


Book Description

America’s public universities educate 80% of our nation’s college students. But in the wake of rising demands on state treasuries, changing demographics, growing income inequality, and legislative indifference, many of these institutions have fallen into decline. Tuition costs have skyrocketed, class sizes have gone up, the number of courses offered has gone down, and the overall quality of education has decreased significantly. Here James C. Garland draws on more than thirty years of experience as a professor, administrator, and university president to argue that a new compact between state government and public universities is needed to make these schools more affordable and financially secure. Saving Alma Mater challenges a change-resistant culture in academia that places too low a premium on efficiency and productivity. Seeing a crisis of campus leadership, Garland takes state legislators to task for perpetuating the decay of their public university systems and calls for reforms in the way university presidents and governing boards are selected. He concludes that the era is long past when state appropriations can enable public universities to keep their fees low and affordable. Saving Alma Mater thus calls for the partial deregulation of public universities and a phase-out of their state appropriations. Garland’s plan would tie university revenues to their performance and exploit the competitive pressures of the academic marketplace to control costs, rein in tuition, and make schools more responsive to student needs. A much-needed blueprint for reform based on Garland’s real-life successes as the head of Miami University of Ohio, Saving Alma Mater will be essential for anyone concerned with the costs and quality of higher education in America today.




How University Boards Work


Book Description

An expert guide designed to help university trustees become effective leaders. Honorable Mention for Eric Hoffer Award (Business Category) by The Hoffer Project We expect college and university trustees to hire the president, advise senior staff, manage investments and financial decisions, and oversee major strategic initiatives. Unfortunately, they sometimes come into this powerful role with little or no understanding of what they are meant to do or how their institutions work. How University Boards Work, by Robert A. Scott, is designed to help trustees understand how to fulfill their responsibilities. Written by a widely respected leader in American higher education and former university president, How University Boards Work is the product of personal experience and considerable research. This concise, straightforward guide includes: • an explanation of the difference between governance and management • tips on how best to prepare for board decisions and discussions • examples of positive and negative board behavior • guidance about board professional development • advice on managing transitions between chief executives How University Boards Work will prove an invaluable resource for those responsible for governing colleges and universities, whether privately financed or state funded. It will also be an illuminating read for board secretaries, campus executives and administrators, faculty leaders, alumni volunteers, and public officials, as well as anybody seeking to understand institutional governance in the light of past and current trends in higher education.




A Desktop Guide for Nonprofit Directors, Officers, and Advisors


Book Description

How to keep any nonprofit out of trouble, running smoothly, and accomplishing its mission "Jack Siegel--lawyer, accountant, management consultant, and computer whiz--takes the putative director or officer of a nonprofit organization on a useful and often entertaining voyage throughout the realm of the tax-exempt organizations universe, pointing out its quirks, foibles, and legal liabilities along the way. His handbook will make mandatory--and arresting--reading for those who are already serving as trustees, directors, officers, and key employees of exempt organizations, particularly charitable ones. Siegel's goal, in which he succeeds, is to help directors and officers of nonprofit organizations 'make better decisions.' The book is full of large policy analyses and paragraphs on the details, such as board size, board committees, board meeting formats, the contents of minutes, and the duties of officers. Salted with some excellent real-life examples, what also sets this book apart from most in its genre is the tone: the writing style, the brusqueness, the bluntness. He complains that too many directors 'check their good judgment at the boardroom door.' He advises individuals who 'desire agreement and demand adulation' to stay off boards; he insists on 'commitment' and 'institutional tension' with the executive director. He warns prospective directors that some organizations want, in addition to time and judgment, 'either your money or your ability to raise money.' To my delight, he extols the virtues of 'some level of expenditures' for qualified lawyers and accountants. Please join me in adding this most helpful handbook to your nonprofit library." --Bruce R. Hopkins, Attorney at Law, author of The Law of Tax-Exempt Organizations, Eighth Edition and Starting and Managing a Nonprofit Organization: A Legal Guide, Fourth Edition




White-Collar Business Crime


Book Description

This book is about people who once had everything - power, money, and prestige - and who lost it all in one day. With the help of international law, the book explains what corporate management should know about white-collar crimes in different areas of business. It offers the biggest business crime cases from all over the world. At the heart of the business crimes, there is corruption, money laundering, fraud, and extortion. None of the law areas is immune to the crimes: they occur in company law, competition law, tax law, labor law, environmental law and intellectual property law - just to mention a few. The book helps to outline business-friendly models for crime prevention. Most of all, it increases knowledge of white-collar business crimes and helps people to avoid making their own ones. The book is aimed at business leaders and at everyone who runs their own business. It also provides information for business developers as well as business and law students.




Socrates in the Boardroom


Book Description

Why top scholars make the best university leaders Socrates in the Boardroom argues that world-class scholars, not administrators, make the best leaders of research universities. Amanda Goodall cuts through the rhetoric and misinformation swirling around this contentious issue—such as the assertion that academics simply don't have the managerial expertise needed to head the world's leading schools—using hard evidence and careful, dispassionate analysis. She shows precisely why experts need leaders who are experts like themselves. Goodall draws from the latest data on the world's premier research universities along with in-depth interviews with top university leaders both past and present, including University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann; Derek Bok and Lawrence Summers, former presidents of Harvard University; John Hood, former vice chancellor of the University of Oxford; Cornell University President David Skorton; and many others. Goodall explains why the most effective leaders are those who have deep expertise in what their organizations actually do. Her findings carry broad implications for the management of higher education, and she demonstrates that the same fundamental principle holds true for other important business sectors as well. Experts, not managers, make the best leaders. Read Socrates in the Boardroom and learn why.