The Independent Director


Book Description

Non-executive directors play a very important role in modern business. Providing a rare emphasis on 'soft skills', culture and relationship building, this comprehensive guide offers a unique insight into what it's actually like to be a non-executive director, backed up by global case studies, research and interviews.




The Independent Director in Society


Book Description

Things will always go wrong in organisations. The question is how quickly will they get caught and put right? The problem facing every organisation today – our businesses, universities, health services, or the many other sporting and charitable institutions that shape our society – is that the relationship between their executive management and those whose job it is to oversee them (whether they are called non-executive or independent directors, trustees, or governors) has become unbalanced. The Independent Director in Society shows how to rebalance it. Based on original, in-depth research from Henley Business School, this is the first book to survey and analyse the governance crisis right across society rather than just focus upon the business sector. The authors show that – despite their many differences – all organisations have many issues, behaviours and problems in common. The same problems require, in many cases, the same solutions. Sometimes they don’t. The authors offer two answers. The first lies in the realm of policy. Not a need for more legislation, but a move to give the existing codes of practice back their teeth and make them fit for purpose. The second lies with independent directors themselves. Urgent improvement is needed in standards of thought and action as well as the calibre of these directors. Above all, directors need to develop an independent mindset that will enable them to make better, more accurate decisions. There are many elements to creating this culture, including selection, training and education for directors, and support from chairs and executive teams, but most of all directors themselves must recognise their responsibilities in a complex and volatile world.




The Role of Independent Directors in Corporate Governance


Book Description

Updated and expanded, this second edition provides directors--and attorneys advising directors--with information on the policies and underlying issues that shape director fiduciary duties and the other corporate governance requirements. It describes the legal and economic context in which these governance requirements arise, and also outlines the implementation details that can affect specific governance related decisions. It also includes sample summary materials in the form of PowerPoint presentations to use as starting points to prepare training or explanatory sessions before a board or management.




Developing China's Capital Market


Book Description

China is an increasingly influential emerging economy that is currently attracting the attention of academics, practitioners, and policy makers. This book is a collection of cutting edge research findings on issues relating to the experiences and challenges of China's capital market development.




High Growth Handbook


Book Description

High Growth Handbook is the playbook for growing your startup into a global brand. Global technology executive, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor Elad Gil has worked with high-growth tech companies including Airbnb, Twitter, Google, Stripe, and Square as they’ve grown from small companies into global enterprises. Across all of these breakout companies, Gil has identified a set of common patterns and created an accessible playbook for scaling high-growth startups, which he has now codified in High Growth Handbook. In this definitive guide, Gil covers key topics, including: · The role of the CEO · Managing a board · Recruiting and overseeing an executive team · Mergers and acquisitions · Initial public offerings · Late-stage funding. Informed by interviews with some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley, including Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn), Marc Andreessen (Andreessen Horowitz), and Aaron Levie (Box), High Growth Handbook presents crystal-clear guidance for navigating the most complex challenges that confront leaders and operators in high-growth startups.




Guide for Independent Directors


Book Description

About the Book Independent Directors require a special set of skills, attitude and mindset to act independently and take unbiased, neutral views on matters before them in the Board. In order to provide and invigorate basic knowledge in corporate laws, upgrade and evaluate the required skills of Independent Directors and to prepare a databank of such qualified and eligible persons, the rules necessitate to have a Data-bank in place. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs in consonance with Companies (Creation and Maintenance of databank of Independent Directors) Rules, 2019 and Companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) Amendment Rules, 2019, empanels Directors that are registered with them and have passed the Online Proficiency Self-Assessment Test. MCA has authorised the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) to maintain the Data-bank as well as conduct the Online Proficiency Self-Assessment Test. This book covers the entire gamut of syllabus for the purpose of the Online Proficiency Self-Assessment Test. It has been divided into 4 parts and 36 chapters. Part-I details Syllabus, scheme, scope and text of relevant Notifications. Part-II encompasses 36 chapters covering over 1700 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) on all these topics including case studies. The chapters also contain the answer key for self-assessment. Part-III contains the text of relevant provisions/extracts of Companies Act 2013, Company Rules, SCRA, SEBI guidelines etc. Part-IV integrates extracts of Indian and International Corporate Governance Codes/ Guidelines for reference and further readings. Key Features A useful guide for Independent Director aspirants appearing for online proficiency self assessment test. Covers entire syllabus viz, company law, SEBI guidelines, corporate governance etc. Includes case studies. Over 1700 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) with answer key. Author's own experiences and learning as Independent Director shared in MCQs. Useful for other MBA/Commerce/Corporate Governance students.




Startup CEO


Book Description

You’re only a startup CEO once. Do it well with Startup CEO, a "master class in building a business." —Dick Costolo, Former CEO, Twitter Being a startup CEO is a job like no other: it’s difficult, risky, stressful, lonely, and often learned through trial and error. As a startup CEO seeing things for the first time, you’re likely to make mistakes, fail, get things wrong, and feel like you don’t have any control over outcomes. Author Matt Blumberg has been there, and in Startup CEO he shares his experience, mistakes, and lessons learned as he guided Return Path from a handful of employees and no revenues to over $100 million in revenues and 500 employees. Startup CEO is not a memoir of Return Path's 20-year journey but a thoughtful CEO-focused book that provides first-time CEOs with advice, tools, and approaches for the situations that startup CEOs will face. You'll learn: How to tell your story to new hires, investors, and customers for greater alignment How to create a values-based culture for speed and engagement How to create business and personal operating systems so that you can balance your life and grow your company at the same time How to develop, lead, and leverage your board of directors for greater impact How to ensure that your company is bought, not sold, when you exit Startup CEO is the field guide every CEO needs throughout the growth of their company.




The Role of Independent Directors After Sarbanes-Oxley


Book Description

This book is intended to provide independent directors and their advisors with an understanding of the primary legal and governance issues that have evolved in the corporate governance environment since the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002. The text on the accompanying CD-ROM sourcebook offers hypertext linked footnotes to direct lawyers (or interested non-lawyers) to legal source material.




Disaster in the Boardroom


Book Description

Why when companies come crashing down, do we hear of boards who have failed in their fiduciary duties? Or that they have been ignorant, complacent or downright complicit in these scandals and downfalls? Of course, corporate scandals are nothing new, nor are they limited to any one geography. They are a damning indictment of our systems of corporate governance around the world. And yet, despite this frequency, little or nothing changes. We shrug and move on, accepting they are an unavoidable part of the system that produces incredible wealth for economies and societies. But it should not be that way. Disaster in the Boardroom shows how boards can be better. Looking at why these scandals happen, authors Peterson and Brown present in-depth case studies of major global corporations – including recent contemporary scandals associated with companies such as BP, Facebook and Uber – using the optic of their unique, original and compelling ‘six dysfunctions of the board’ analysis to reveal their particularities but also how they can be overcome. In this book, Brown and Peterson explore common attributes of scandals such as lack of independence from management, missing key voices, cultural amplification, diffusion of responsibility, rule-bound cultures and groupthink. They also identify ways to strengthen boards, improve their culture and competence, and give directors and others the power to take action and ultimately prevent disasters from happening. Disaster in the Boardroom is essential reading for every executive in every boardroom, those aspiring to board positions as well as anyone interested in why boards fail. It has never been more important to pre-identify and eradicate these boardroom dysfunctions – not least so that their impacts upon society can better seen, understood, mitigated, and avoided.




Boards That Lead


Book Description

Is your firm’s board creating value—or destroying it? Change is coming. Leadership at the top is being redefined as boards take a more active role in decisions that once belonged solely to the CEO. But for all the advantages of increased board engagement, it can create debilitating questions of authority and dangerous meddling in day-to-day operations. Directors need a new road map—for when to lead, when to partner, and when to stay out of the way. Boardroom veterans Ram Charan, Dennis Carey, and Michael Useem advocate this new governance model—a sharp departure from what has been demanded by governance activists, raters, and regulators—and reveal the emerging practices that are defining shared leadership of directors and executives. Based on personal interviews and the authors’ broad and deep experience working with executives and directors from dozens of the world’s largest firms, including Apple, Boeing, Ford, Infosys, and Lenovo, Boards That Lead tells the inside story behind the successes and pitfalls of this new leadership model and explains how to: • Define the central idea of the company • Ensure that the right CEO is in place and potential successors are identified • Recruit directors who add value • Root out board dysfunction • Select a board leader who deftly bridges the divide between management and the board • Set a high bar on ethics and risk With a total of eighteen checklists that will transform board directors from monitors to leaders, Charan, Carey, and Useem provide a smart and practical guide for businesspeople everywhere—whether they occupy the boardroom or the C-suite.