Page Description - this page includes selected books of general interest to
Boards of Directors.
Books:
- The Board Book: An Insider's Guide
for Directors and Trustees - A must-have for first-time and
experienced board members alike, who will benefit from William G. Bowen's
decades of experience. Former Mellon Foundation and Princeton University
president William G. Bowen has served on the boards of some of the United
States's biggest corporations and nonprofits, including American Express,
Merck, the Smithsonian, and TIAA-CREF. In The Board Book he brings his
immense experience, along with the recollections and insights of numerous
colleagues, to bear on the most pressing questions facing boards of
directors and trustees today. His topics include the hot-button issues of
the relationship between CEOs and board members, "perks," executive
compensation, and CEO transitions. In addition, Bowen offers advice on the
"machinery" required to run a board effectively, including the uses of
committees and executive sessions, the handling of leaks, and the
recruitment of new board members. Throughout, Bowen relates, with anecdotes
and hard data, strategies that result in the collegiality and sense of
purpose that make any board more effective. Amazon link -
http://www.amazon.com/Board-Book-Insiders-Directors-Trustees/dp/0393066452/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305333826&sr=1-1
- Boards That Deliver: Advancing Corporate Governance From
Compliance to Competitive Advantage - Ram Charan, expert in
corporate governance and best-selling author, packs this book with useful
tools and techniques to take boards and their companies to a higher level of
performance. Charan puts his finger on a growing problem for boards: the
disconnect between directors' efforts and their results. The added time and
attention boards invest is not translating into better governance???that is,
governance that adds value to the business. Boards That Deliver gets beyond
the rhetoric of corporate governance reform. It captures the tried-and-true
practices used by high-performance boards. In contrast to experts who base
prescriptions on number-crunching exercises, Charan identifies the real
problems that drain directors' time and suppress their best judgments???and
explains clearly and succinctly how boards can solve those problems. These
battle-tested solutions help boards achieve what rules and regulations alone
cannot???to get succession right, refine a winning strategy, and design a
rational CEO compensation package. Amazon link -
http://www.amazon.com/Boards-That-Deliver-Competitive-non-Franchise/dp/0787971391/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305334039&sr=1-3
- Corporate Governance: An International Review -
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291467-8683
- Essentials for Board Directors: An A to Z Guide (The Economist) -
The ethical, financial, legal, and fiduciary challenges facing board
directors in both the for-profit and nonprofit arenas have increased
dramatically in recent years. The resolve of board members to really make a
difference and not be wasting precious time and resources is also perhaps
higher than ever. The Essential A-Z Guides are lively, practical resources
for business and investment professionals, as well as politicians, public
servants, and students. Each book contains hundreds of entries that
concisely explain the subject's concept in a handy reference that
complements any business library. Amazon link -
http://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Board-Directors-Guide-Economist/dp/1576603547/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305334010&sr=1-2
- The Imperfect Board Member: Discovering the Seven Disciplines of
Governance Excellence - by Jim Brown is a highly perceptive,
eminently readable, engagingly human book on how boards and directors can
improve their performance. In a breezy conversational style that uses
dialogue invitingly and often, the author explores with sensitivity and a
light touch not only the standard ingredients but also the more subtle
nuances of excellence in both corporate and not-for-profit governance.
Amazon link -
http://www.amazon.com/Imperfect-Board-Member-Discovering-non-Franchise/dp/0787986100/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305334162&sr=1-5
- Owning Up: The 14 Questions Every Board Member Needs to Ask -
Now the board of every company beset with problems is coming under scrutiny.
The pressure is on. Your board must own up to its accountability for the
performance of the corporation. Governance now means leadership. Boards must
change their modus operandi to address the new and complex issues that are
emerging. These include: Ensuring liquidity in the context of the global
financial crisis; Setting CEO performance targets in a very uncertain
economy; Assessing strategy and enterprise risk under extreme volatility. So
what should boards do now? What should they be talking about in their
meetings and executive sessions? What decisions must they make? How
assertive must they be regarding company priorities and operating goals? In
Owning Up, business advisor and corporate governance expert Ram Charan
answers these and other burning questions on the minds of directors and
business leaders. He describes best practices that are emerging in
boardrooms he has observed firsthand. And he provides practical
recommendations on a range of issues, from compensation to dealing with
external constituencies. Wisely attuned to the human side, he confronts the
need for some boards to refresh their composition and for others to
rebalance their board dynamics. Amazon link -
http://www.amazon.com/Owning-Up-Questions-Every-Member/dp/0470397675/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305334088&sr=1-4