Praise for Building Better Boards "Building Better Boards bridges the gap between talk and action. A must-read for board members, CEOs, governance experts - really for anyone who cares about the future of the corporation." Anne M. Mulcahy, chairman and CEO, Xerox Corporation "Building Better Boards covers all the key issues facing boards in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley era. It provides practical advice based on the authors' wide-ranging experience with major companies that have built successful boards." Marty Lipton, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen Roger W. Raber, president and CEO, National Association of Corporate Directors "This book provides a comprehensive review and effective guide to making any board an effective team, and thus an asset, for their company." Richard H. Koppes of Counsel, Jones Day, and former general counsel, CalPERS "A balanced, insightful, thoughtful, and, above all, useful look at what can be done to create excellent boards." Edward E. Lawler III, director, Center for Effective Organizations, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California "Improving board effectiveness is easier said than done. Building Better Boards lays out the how-tos in a clear and compelling way that is of practical value for directors and CEOs alike." Kenneth W. Freeman, former chairman and CEO, Quest Diagnostics Inc.

An essential guide to understanding the dynamics of a startup's board of directors Let's face it, as founders and entrepreneurs, you have a lot on your plate—getting to your minimum viable product, developing customer interaction, hiring team members, and managing the accounts/books. Sooner or later, you have a board of directors, three to five (or even seven) Type A personalities who seek your attention and at times will tell you what to do. While you might be hesitant to form a board, establishing an objective outside group is essential for startups, especially to keep you on track, call you out when you flail, and in some cases, save you from yourself. In Startup Boards, Brad Feld—a Boulder, Colorado-based entrepreneur turned-venture capitalist—shares his experience in this area by talking about the importance of having the right board members on your team and how to manage them well. Along the way, he shares valuable insights on various aspects of the board, including how they can support you, help you understand your startup's milestones and get to them faster, and hold you accountable. Details the process of choosing board members, including interviewing many people, checking references, and remembering that there should be no fear in rejecting a wrong fit Explores the importance of running great meetings, mixing social time with business time, and much more Recommends being a board member yourself at some other organization so you see the other side of the equation Engaging and informative, Startup Boards is a practical guide to one of the most important pieces of the startup puzzle.

An examination of the true role of governance as a driver of high-quality strategic decision-making, which can help an organization achieve its strategic objectives more efficiently and effectively. Many boards approach the subject of governance from a compliance perspective, which leaves value lying on the table. When boards complain that “we're spending too much time on governance”, what they're usually referring to is 'compliance'. A compliance focus leads to an emphasis on governance as an area of subject-matter expertise, a cost, an overhead, a back-office activity, something which 'has to be done' to satisfy regulation and Code. It manifests itself through a culture of box-ticking. Directors and senior management perceive, and derive, little value from the exercise. Seamus Gillen believes that governance is a commercial discipline, providing a fundamental underpin to the process of value creation, value protection and value preservation. Governance drives the quality of strategic decision-making that helps an organization achieve its strategic objectives more efficiently and effectively. High standards of governance create competitive advantage, a concept as applicable to not-for-profits and public sector bodies as to commercial entities. For organizations pursuing this approach, governance becomes a liberating theology, and a critical business enabler. Building Better Boards resonates with professionals operating across international jurisdictions, and is inclusive rather than exclusive. The book emphasises, and demonstrates, that governance is a live issue, an ongoing priority area of board focus, with developments occurring around the world on, literally, a daily basis. It identifies good practice and progressive thinking across sectors and geographies. It builds on thought leadership and case studies, as well as regulatory guidance and Code principles. It offers new models and approaches based on real-life experience. All to provide boards and directors - as well as senior executives - with the means to leverage governance to achieve their strategic objectives. To help them lead and succeed in a changing world.

Despite the many changes in governance regulation over the past decade, few boards function as a true corporate asset to the companies they oversee. In this book, Behan offers practical advice that a CEO, Chairman or board member can introduce at the very next meeting. Boardrooms are filled with intelligent, accomplished people—yet seldom achieve their full potential and add the kind of value for the CEO, executive team and company shareholders that many boards are actually capable of. Beverly Behan draws on her experience working with more than 100 boards over the past 14 years—from major Fortune 500s to recent IPOs—offering no-nonsense insights that can take any board from mediocrity to the top of its game including establishing a constructive working relationship with your board; addressing some of the dysfunction that may lie within the board you’ve inherited, and making your board a significant asset to you, your company, and your executive team. Working with the Board of Directors is one of the most important components of any CEO’s job—and most will admit it is something they wish they knew more about. Nearly all CEOs want to change at least something about their board, yet many are unsure how to go about this in the right way. This book not only alerts the reader to common pitfalls that CEO's can make with their boards, it provides workable approaches to a tackle a variety of boardroom issues from getting new talent into the boardroom to engaging effectively with the board on strategy and succession planning.

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.

Distinguished governance experts offer cures for what ails our boards of directors In light of corporate malfeasance in recent years, the governance of corporations has been receiving great attention from regulators, researchers, shareholders, and directors themselves. Based on Richard Leblanc's in-depth five-year study of 39 boards of directors of both for- and not-for-profit organizations, Building a Better Board goes behind the scenes to reveal the inner workings of boards of directors, including how they make decisions. Recently chosen as one of Canada's "Top 40 Under 40"(TM), Dr Richard Leblanc is an award-winning teacher and researcher, certified management consultant, professional speaker, professor, lawyer and specialist on boards of directors. He can be reached at [email protected]. James Gillies, PhD (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), is Professor Emeritus at the Schulich School of Business, York University, where he serves as Chair of the Canada-Russia Corporate Governance Program.

A comprehensive guide to transforming boards and achieving best-practice governance in any organisation. When practising good governance, the board is the vital driver of organizational success, while fostering positive social impact and economic value creation. At all levels, executives around the world are faced with complexities rising from disruptive business models, new technologies, socio-economic changes, shifting political circumstances, and an array of other sources. High Performance Boards is the comprehensive manual for attaining best-in-class governance, offering pragmatic guidance on improving board quality, accountability, and performance. This authoritative volume identifies the four dimensions, or pillars, which are crucial for establishing and maintaining best-practice boards: the people involved, the information architecture, the structures and processes, and the group dynamics and culture of governance. This methodology can be applied to any board in the world, corporate or non-profit organization, regardless of size, sector, industry, or context. Readers are introduced to a fictitious senior board member – an amalgamation of board members from well-known organisations – and follow her as she successfully handles real-life challenges with effective governance. Drawn from the author's 20 years of practice and confidential work with boards across the world, this book: Demonstrates how high-performance boards innovate and refine their practices Discusses examples of board failures and challenges, including case studies from both for-profit and non-profit organisations including international organizations and state-owned agencies or even ministries Provides a proven framework to create best-in-class governance Includes a companion website featuring tools for board assessment and board practice High Performance Boards has inspired more than 3000 board members around the world. This book is essential reading for professionals and managers interested in governance and board members, senior managers, investors, lawyers, and students of governance.

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.

THE PRACTITIONER’S GUIDE TO GOVERNANCE AS LEADERSHIP The Practitioner’s Guide to Governance as Leadership offers a resource that shows how to achieve excellence and peak performance in the boardroom by putting into practice the groundbreaking model that was introduced in the book, Governance as Leadership. This proven model of effective governance explores how to attain proficiency in three governance modes or mindsets: fiduciary, strategic, and generative. Throughout the book, author Cathy Trower offers an understanding of the Governance as Leadership model through a wealth of illustrative examples of high-performing nonprofit boards. She explores the challenges of implementing governance as leadership and suggests ideas for getting started and overcoming barriers to progress. In addition, Trower provides practical guidance for optimizing the practices that will improve organizational performance including: flow (high skill and high purpose), discernment, deliberation, divergent thinking, insight, meaningfulness, consequence to the organization, and integrity. In short, the book is a combination of sophisticated thinking, instructive vignettes, illustrative documents, and practical recommendations. The book includes concrete strategies that can help improve critical thinking in the boardroom, a board’s overall performance as a team, as well as information for creating a strong governance culture and understanding what is required of an effective CEO and a chairperson. To determine a board’s fitness and help the members move forward, the book contains three types of assessments: board members evaluate each other; individual board member assessments; and an overall team assessment. This practitioner’s guide is written for nonprofit board members, chief executives, senior staff members, and anyone who wants to reflect on governance, discern how to govern better, and achieve higher performance in the process.

Serving on a board is like having a second full-time job. Earning a seat on a board is a rite of passage for senior leaders. Serving on a board is an opportunity to share your skills and extend your reach beyond your own organization as you help select, appoint, and review the performance of an organization's senior leadership team, determine compensation and incentive plans, approve strategic decisions, and ensure the financial well-being of the organization in both the short- and long-term. But in today's increasingly complex business environment, serving on a board also means working to address detailed issues such as increasing diversity on the board itself and in the organization, ensuring a risk-mitigation plan that prepares the organization for everything from hackers to sexual predators, and navigating big-picture challenges such as the unprecedented pace of change and disruption--all while managing financials and shareholder expectations. If you read nothing else on boards, read these 10 articles by experts in the field. We've combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you address classic challenges such as increasing diversity, ensuring a culture that reflects company values, and providing strategic oversight while also addressing emerging issues such as shareholder activism, cybersecurity, and ever-shifting regulations. This book will inspire you to: Collaborate effectively with the other members of the board and executive team Anticipate and address legislation and regulation issues Adopt a company-centered model that prioritizes the health of the enterprise over fattening shareholders' wallets Rethink your role and attitude toward risk Support leadership transitions Foster creative abrasion to keep ideas flowing Manage and build relationships with the executive team--and your shareholders HBR's 10 Must Reads paperback series is the definitive collection of books for new and experienced leaders alike. Leaders looking for the inspiration that big ideas provide, both to accelerate their own growth and that of their companies, should look no further. HBR's 10 Must Reads series focuses on the core topics that every ambitious manager needs to know: leadership, strategy, change, managing people, and managing yourself. Harvard Business Review has sorted through hundreds of articles and selected only the most essential reading on each topic. Each title includes timeless advice that will be relevant regardless of an ever‐changing business environment.