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.

Everyone can be a high performer, according to Jerry Fletcher. Not just in occasional, heroic bursts of success, but consistently, in everything we do. It's not a matter of imitating star athletes or successful entrepreneurs. In fact, you just have to be fully yourself at your best.

The revised new edition of the must-read guide for executives—provides comprehensive coverage of topics in corporate governance by leading subject-matter experts The Handbook of Board Governance is the marketing-leading text on public, nonprofit, and private board governance. Providing comprehensive, in-depth coverage, this unique text represents a collaboration of internationally-recognized academics and prominent organization directors, executives, managers, and advisors. Contributors include Ariel Fromer Babcock, Robert Eccles, Alice Korngold, Ellie Mulholland, Michael Useem, Elizabeth Valentine and John Zinkin. Practical, expert guidance enables readers to understand value creation and the strategic role of the board, risk governance and oversight, audit and compensation committee effectiveness, CEO succession planning, and other diverse board duties and responsibilities. Now in its second edition, the Handbook offers substantial updates and revisions reflecting contemporary trends, practices, and developments in board governance. New content includes discussions of pressing issues related to climate change, examination of information technology and cybersecurity challenges, and recent tax legislation that will impact executive compensation. Editor Dr. Richard Leblanc—an award-winning teacher, professor, lawyer, management consultant, and specialist on boards of directors—integrates practical experience and academic rigor to assist readers: Build and strengthen engaged and collaborative leadership in the boardroom Recognize the role and responsibilities of a well-functioning governing board Risk governance, assurance, and the duties of directors Keep pace with new trends in board governance and shareholder responsibility Measure performance and align performance measurement to executive pay Understand information technology governance, sustainability governance, and the different forms of governance Highly relevant to board and committee members regardless of sector or industry, The Handbook of Board Governance, 2nd Edition is an invaluable source of knowledge on all aspects of corporate and organization governance.

“Think for a moment of the best conversations you’ve had with friends and colleagues. You were honest with one another—not shy about speaking up but relaxed, even if the topic being discussed was serious in nature. That’s the type of conversation The Nonprofit Board Answer Book aims to have with you in the pages that follow. It follows a question-and-answer format, enabling you to quickly find an answer to a burning question you have right now. At the same time, it’s easy to pick up and read straight through, either cover to cover or one section at a time. At the end of each question-and-answer pairing you’ll find suggested action steps. These offer ways to put the information to a practical use on your own board and within your own nonprofit organization. Implementing some of these steps may lead to more questions as you become even more committed to fulfilling your responsibilities as a board member. Remember: behind every good answer lies a good question. So keep asking those questions.”--from the Introduction

Due to budgetary constraints, the print version of this title has been cancelled. Please consult a reference librarian for more information.

An organization operating in the twenty-first century is different from one that operated during the Industrial Revolution. Todays focus is on optimizing human potential; people are the enablers of most aspects of intangible value. People develop relationships with suppliers, customers, distributors, and other third parties through which work is executed. In Reflective Leaders and High-Performance Organizations, authors Nick Shepherd and Peter Smyth take an integrated view of organizational performance that blends a focus on both outcomes and relationships. Reflective Leaders and High-Performance Organizations suggests a framework for developing and applying an improved approach to organizational leadership and management. In addition to philosophy and conceptual approaches, it presents tested practical tools and direction. It also delivers case studies of organizations that have applied Shepherds and Smyths ideas and realized measurable improvements in the day-to-day activities of the organization, along with measurably improved outcomes from the organizational activity. Using over twenty years of practical consulting experience as well as careers in management, Shepherd and Smyth demonstrate how effective leaders can maintain a focus on organizational tasks and outcomes and do this while building and enhancing human relationships.

This book is about the importance of board leadership and how to create a highly successful nonprofit board. It is intended for the millions of people like you who volunteer their time as a member of a nonprofit organization board of trustees or directors, the CEOs who lead those organizations, and anyone who is inspired to serve their community as a nonprofit executive or board member in the future. Regardless of the mission of your organization or your role within it, you have made a commitment to have a positive impact on society locally, nationally, or globally. My goal is to provide you with a proven roadmap to improve your board’s performance. The recommendations in this book are based on decades of nonprofit board governance experience. When implemented, these strategies will help lead your organization toward greater effectiveness and impact. The benefits of serving as a board or executive leader of a highly successful nonprofit can be personal as well, for it is highly gratifying to know that you are bringing real value to the community. Throughout the book, I will pose questions intended primarily for board discussion. I strongly suggest including at least one key question on every board meeting agenda, as a way to educate and engage your members on how to become a highly successful nonprofit board. I believe it is important for everyone to be aware that nonprofit organizations are vital to our country’s societal and economic well-being. They provide a wide range of services that are crucial to the public good including education, the arts, healthcare, social services, environmental protection, access to food and affordable housing, faith-based organizations, and more. Every nonprofit in its way provides the community with needed support, often transforming beliefs and hopes into action. Nonprofit organizations vary significantly in size and scope, from small local charities to large international organizations. Seventy-six percent of nonprofits have annual revenues below $100,000 while 4% have annual revenues between $1M and $5M. The remaining 20% of our nonprofits have revenues above $5M while less than 0.2% have annual revenues of billions of dollars. Unfortunately, only around 50% of nonprofits are successful in our country. According to the National Center for Charitable Statistics, about 30% of nonprofits will cease to exist in 10 years—and some experts predict the failure rate will be much higher. The truth is that is not enough to have a worthy cause or a passionate team. The biggest hurdle to success is executive leaders who lack the contemporary competencies and experience necessary to steer their organization toward success, and board members who have not had adequate training on nonprofit board governance and knowledge of what is required from them for their organization to be successful. Just because someone is a successful business executive, community leader, or prominent citizen in your community does not necessarily mean that they are prepared to become a good nonprofit board member. And even a nonprofit CEO who had success in the roles they held prior to becoming a chief executive can benefit from leadership education, coaching, and support to propel their board and leadership team forward. With knowledge about what is needed to become a great nonprofit board and a deeper understanding of the nature of board leadership, every nonprofit can achieve a higher level of performance. As you work your way through this book, you will discover many opportunities to ask yourself whether or not your board is on the path to becoming highly successful. I hope you will consider using all that is offered in these pages to raise your organization’s aspirations, and impact, to bring even greater value to those you serve.

Vell Executive Search, a Boston-based executive search firm, has released its latest report. Titled "Women Board Members in Tech Companies: Strategies for Building High Performing Diverse Boards," the report offers an in-depth look at the topic and recommendations for creating greater diversity. "We studied 581 public technology companies in the U.S. and Canada with at least $100 million in revenues. What we found in many ways is encouraging: large public tech companies are embracing women on their boards," said Dora Vell, CEO of Vell Executive Search. "But there is still room for growth, especially in smaller companies." According to the report, 411 companies have at least one woman on their board, with 30% having none and 36% only one. Less than 12% have three or more women on their boards, the minimum number required to correlate with greater company performance. "The smaller the company, the fewer women board members," Vell said. "In companies with revenues of $100 million to $500 million, women hold 216 board seats out of a total of 1880. Nearly all companies with revenues over $5 billion have at least one woman board member." The latest Vell report looks at three key company factors: revenues, sectors and insiders. The report also looks at characteristics women directors possess that drive one or more board invites, board leadership roles and membership in the 20 largest companies. Ultimately, the Vell report concludes the tech industry must look at the entire ecosystem—not just the largest companies—to drive greater gender balance on boards. Closing the gap, Vell said, is no longer just a matter of breaking through a glass ceiling, but opening doors for women to gain experience in smaller companies. Vell offers strategic recommendations for overcoming the challenges and helping tech companies diversify their boards. These include drastically extending the succession planning timeline, training high potential executives internally with governance matters, and seeding the ecosystem by assisting smaller companies to identify outstanding diverse talent.

Good Governance is a Choice, 2nd edition is a book about, and for, boards of public and non-profit organizations. Its central focus is on public school boards and the special challenges they face, but the governing model it introduces, Coherent Governance , is applicable to any board of any type. Coherent Governance is a policy-based governing model that features a fail-proof means for creating absolute role clarity for boards and their CEOs. The model offers a process for boards to control operational decisions without making them, allowing them to spend the dominant part of their time on what matters—whether the organization is delivering the goods for the clients it serves. The authors challenge readers to consider themselves to be the very first board elected or appointed to serve their organization and to thoughtfully craft a governance role and board processes to allow them to best do their work—unencumbered by past practice and tradition. They draw from their combined 60-plus years of experience in working with public and non-profit boards as they present their state-of-the-art governing model.