Directors, chairpersons, executives, recruiters, and other professionals who assist corporate boards all agree that becoming a corporate director is a journey. The process may take one to five years and involves a lot of learning, networking, and strategic positioning. In other words, just like everything worth pursuing, it involves a lot of hard work! Yes, there are occasional glimpses of luck, but there are no magical moments, invisible hands, or other miracles. Get on Board: Earning Your Ticket to a Corporate Board Seat is a practical beginner’s guide for anyone considering becoming a director, from young professionals seeking corporate board service in the distant future to seasoned professionals contemplating an imminent career change. This book demystifies the process, breaks down the steps, and answers the most common questions about corporate board service. It also provides examples of successful corporate director biographies and resumes. Finally, it shares actionable strategies and worksheets to help identify your unique value proposition, elevate your profile, and refine your networking strategy. You can use all of this information to start your corporate board journey today. After reading this book, you will be convinced that corporate board service is within your reach—and will be ready to pursue it actively!

"The author's guidance is backed up by research and hundreds of interviews - information that everyone in business can use: senior executives get the tools to create and sustain effective boards; management gets a clear understanding of good corporate governance; directors get essential information on how to optimize their roles; employees get an accurate reading on the health of their company; and investors get a critical benchmark for evaluating a company."--BOOK JACKET.

This outstanding work reveals how boards governing 21st-century organizations can change their practices and align their principles to successfully govern the organization of the new economy. The authors propose that judging a board's effectiveness should be done not in a "shareholder" context but in a "stakeholder" context instead. They couch their reforms in a framework that focuses on what determines effective governance behavior: information, knowledge, power, and rewards.They argue it is behavior, not practices that count, and look at boards from a group and an organizational perspective.

Business scandals from Enron to WorldCom have escalated concerns about corporate governance into a full-blown crisis. Institutional investors and legislators have dominated the debate and enacted important changes in corporate accounting and other areas. But Colin B. Carter and Jay W. Lorsch say that we must now focus on the performance of corporate boards. This timely book argues that boards are being pressed to perform unrealistic duties given their traditional structure, processes, and membership. Carter and Lorsch propose a strategic redesign of boards--making them better attuned to their oversight, decision-making, and advisory roles--to enable directors to meet 21st century challenges successfully. Based on the authors' deep expertise and longtime experience working with boards around the world, and on a probing survey of CEOs, Carter and Lorsch help boards to develop a realistic value proposition customized to the company they serve. The authors explore the core dilemmas and responsibilities boards face and outline a framework for designing the most effective structure, makeup, size, and culture. This book provides a candid account of the current state of boards and points the way in a time of crisis and change.

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.

Female presence and involvement on boards improves firm performance, transforms corporate governance and leads to the transition towards more responsible business. Corporate boards are essential bodies for governance and management and their efficiency determines a company’s performance. The board is a crucial element of the corporate governance structure and its efficiency and performance determines the success of the operation and monitoring of the company. The board is viewed as the liaison between providers of capital (shareholders) and managers who use this capital to create value. The board role is to represent, formulate and fulfill the interests and expectations of shareholders as the owners of the companies. The discussion surrounding female participation in business inevitably needs to refer to their presence on corporate boards. It is also a reliable indicator of a gender equality policy and advancement, adopted by countries and companies. The book traces the logic behind the decision patterns of female involvement in governance and management. In particular, it identifies the patterns of women’s presence on corporate boards, with respect to theoretical and conceptual argumentation, policy and regulatory implication, as well as practical adaptation. The phenomenon of women on corporate boards is analyzed in the context of different political, cultural and institutional environments addressing challenges in both developed and emerging economies. The role of female directors is viewed as one of the crucial aspects in corporate governance, adding to the quality of control and management.

This book applies John Carver's highly successful Policy Governance model to corporate boards. Carver and boardroom consultant Caroline Oliver explain the world's only conceptually coherent operating system for boards. This simple yet profound system clarifies roles, empowers directors and senior management alike, and makes accountability feasible to a previously unattainable degree. The authors suggest a redefinition and elevation of the value that boards should create and show how to apply the Policy Governance design to commanding company performance. Corporate Boards That Create Value gives corporate directors and all who care about governance a powerful tool for success.