The most up-to-date version of the gold standard in board governance In the newly revised second edition of High Performance Boards: A Practical Guide to Improving & Energizing your Governance, author Didier Cossin delivers an incisive and practical roadmap to board governance best-practices. Accessible to professionals from a variety of backgrounds, the book lays out the foundational and advanced concepts you'll need to understand to effectively govern a for-profit firm, non-profit, or government entity. You'll learn to manage risk, increase the impact of your board, consider and evaluate the importance of ESG metrics, take into account geopolitics, and supervise your organization's culture. You'll also discover: Extensive revisions to existing chapters, including new methods of cyber-risk management and stakeholder management Strategies for avoiding the common pitfall of ‘greenwashing’ Increasingly common new activism techniques undertaken by boards and investors to shape the behaviour of organizations An indispensable resource for board members and directors serving on boards at organizations of all kinds, High Performance Boards will also earn a place on the bookshelves of corporate lawyers, board secretaries, and students of corporate governance.

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.

While boards acknowledge they bear ultimate responsibility and accountability for their organizations' affairs, governance quality is often far from optimal. The High- Performance Board offers pragmatic and candid advice about what your board must do to maximize performance and contributions. The authors provide sixty-four principles designed to help your board achieve peak performance. They describe every principle in detail and present best practices and practical applications for each one. Each section of the book concludes with a board check-up-a set of questions that can be used to assess your board in light of the principles. A quick read for busy board members, this book is the ultimate board "drivers' manual."