"On a world scale, the implicit deal between corporation and community is undergoing a revolution in the period 1990–2000. For the first time, corporate boardrooms are having to confront the environmental challenge not as a peripheral issue around "public relations", but as a core issue of credibility with its customers. As trust in big business has declined, consumer willingness to alter buying behaviour to register disapproval has accelerated. As a result, boardrooms in the largest companies are having to redraw their strategic procedures regarding the environment. This book aims to advance the general understanding of corporate environmental governance as an issue capable of separate and detailed analysis. It aims to provide not an overview, but a series of test cores into the generally unexamined issues surrounding the changing ethos of corporate action and environmental investment. To date, the "business and environment" strategic conversation has reached only a minute proportion of a global audience. Over the next twenty years, this dialogue will transform business into the 21st century. Moreover, it will become internalised into a way of working within Corporate Culture. Greening the Boardroom explores through case studies and surveys some of the changes in this process, in Europe as well as in Asia and North America. Suitable for readers in general management, business, government and academia, this book is an important contribution to the corporate environmental debate by the author of The Environmental Audit and Business Strategy: A Total Quality Approach."--Provided by publisher.

On a world scale, the implicit deal between corporation and community is undergoing a revolution in the period 1990–2000. For the first time, corporate boardrooms are having to confront the environmental challenge not as a peripheral issue around "public relations", but as a core issue of credibility with its customers. As trust in big business has declined, consumer willingness to alter buying behaviour to register disapproval has accelerated. As a result, boardrooms in the largest companies are having to redraw their strategic procedures regarding the environment. This book aims to advance the general understanding of corporate environmental governance as an issue capable of separate and detailed analysis. It aims to provide not an overview, but a series of test cores into the generally unexamined issues surrounding the changing ethos of corporate action and environmental investment. To date, the "business and environment" strategic conversation has reached only a minute proportion of a global audience. Over the next twenty years, this dialogue will transform business into the 21st century. Moreover, it will become internalised into a way of working within Corporate Culture. Greening the Boardroom explores through case studies and surveys some of the changes in this process, in Europe as well as in Asia and North America. Suitable for readers in general management, business, government and academia, this book is an important contribution to the corporate environmental debate by the author of The Environmental Audit and Business Strategy: A Total Quality Approach.

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.

This book discusses various interactions in the sustainability and development sector. It presents a thematic approach to describe progressive models and cases on disruptions, innovations, regulatory and institutional evolution related to the area of sustainability, through an organizational and boardroom level governance lens. It documents how certain schools of thought, models of engagement and methods-platforms-practices impact society and while doing so, brings together varying theoretical debates, practicing models and instruments of transformation in green governance. Sustainable policy making demands a whole of government approach in decision-making processes. Further, inclusiveness and ‘green’ consciousness of corporate boardrooms are paramount, without which, effective socially responsible business practices are absurd. Human resource development, shaped on sustainable corporate ethics, requires well-trained sustainability specialists, managers that can think ‘green’ in their overall decision making which are essential for green governance. In this context, the book creates a functional, interpretive repertoire of stories, commentaries, life experiences, and reflections of corporate leaders, academics, and practicing consultants, on their decision-making processes, and how they interpret sustainability. These stories and thoughts help create a functional academic construct, which will assist academics teach ‘green’ competencies to business school students better, and entrepreneurs and business executives to better understand the idea of sustainable growth.

Even leading capitalists admit that capitalism is broken. Green Swans is a manifesto for system change designed to serve people, planet, and prosperity. In his twentieth book, John Elkington—dubbed the “Godfather of Sustainability”—explores new forms of capitalism fit for the twenty-first century. If Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s “Black Swans” are problems that can take us exponentially toward breakdown, then “Green Swans” are solutions that take us exponentially toward breakthrough. The success—and survival—of humanity now depends on how we rein in the first and accelerate the second. Green Swans draws on Elkington’s firsthand experience in some of the world’s best-known boardrooms and C-suites. Using case studies, real-world examples, and profiles on emergent technologies, Elkington shows how the weirdest “Ugly Ducklings” of today’s world may turn into tomorrow’s world-saving Green Swans. This book is a must-read for business leaders in corporations great and small who want to help their businesses survive the coming shift in global priorities over the next decade and expand their horizons from responsibility, through resilience, and onto regeneration.

Sarbanes-Oxley and the Board of Directors is a practical, down-to-earth guide for board members. It covers everything from board basics to compliance with regulations, corporate culture and values to assessing and reacting to hostile shareholder activities. Complete with real-world examples, vignettes, case studies, and other information, this guide helps board members, CEOs, CFOs, and others understand their responsibilities and potential liabilities and implement effective corporate governance. It covers building a strong framework for effective governance, ways to protect board members, specific guidance for effective corporate oversight and communications, and more. Sarbanes-Oxley and the Board of Directors gives directors the knowledge, techniques, and tools to serve the company and its stockholders well.

Must-Have, Firsthand Guidance for the 21st Century Boardroom From the Wall Street Journal and top cable business news programs to global politics, the topic of corporate governance is in the business media spotlight. Yet despite this surge of popular attention and the board of directors’ growing power and burdens, solid advice for running a better board remains scattered and inconsistent. At a time of sharp scrutiny and far tighter board accountability, today’s corporate boards and top managers need practical wisdom more than ever. In this invaluable guidebook, the founder of the online newsletter Boardroom INSIDER compiles the best "first-person" advice for quality boards. Here are expert answers to the most widely asked governance questions from today’s board members and top corporate management. From CEO evaluation to logistics and policymaking, bone up on: Effective board recruiting The hottest trends in board pay What to do when your CEO is the problem Running a smart audit committee How to manage board-meeting surprises Dealing with corporate counsel, boardroom battles, board investigations, and strikes Surviving the family boardroom Board retirement policies Career builders for women in the boardroom Putting your board retreat to work Strategies for nonprofit boards Including dozens of helpful checklists and inside examples of the governance strategies of leading companies, Improving Corporate Boards will help all directors ask the questions that hold the key to better governance for the future.

If the gears of governance no longer drive growth and profitability in your company, Corporate Concinnity in the Boardroom will serve as the manual to get you back on track. Today’s companies and their boards of directors are operating in increasingly complex and risky environments. As a result, the who and the what of governance work has begun to change to better enable boards to advise, support, and challenge the C-suite. While such changes are necessary and a critical step in the right direction, they are far from sufficient. The way boards and company management work together must evolve as well, not only to navigate the risks of complexity and change, but also to create and take advantage of the opportunities inherent in them. Corporate Concinnity in the Boardroom: 10 Imperatives to Drive High Performing Companies directly addresses the way to foster effective boardroom-C-suite collaboration. It provides a new framework for corporate governance that creates concinnity—an elegant and delicate integration of the perspectives, guidance, and experiences that provide a platform for the powerful progress critical to successful governance teams. True concinnity retains the honesty and raw energy that drive successful boards while eschewing the command and control model of governance that plagues too many boardrooms. Falls’s 10 imperatives bring together the key pieces of wisdom she has gathered during her career. She shines a light on the importance of clarity around roles and responsibilities, flexibility and creative adaptation during problem solving, and harmonious interpersonal dynamics in times of both upheaval and growth. When these pieces are in place, the gears of boardroom concinnity operate so smoothly we barely notice they’re turning. But if the gears of governance no longer drive growth and profitability in your company, Corporate Concinnity in the Boardroom will serve as the manual to get you back on track.

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.