Improving Corporate Boards: The Boardroom Insider Guidebook (paper with CD-ROM)

Enter Improving Corporate Boards, part of a small but growing genre of how-to books on corporate governance. Author Ralph Ward focuses specifically on board-level governance, offering advice aimed primarily at corporate directors and with particular emphasis on the nonexecutive's role. As the writer for Boardroom Insider, an online corporate governance newsletter, Ward brings a wealth of anecdotal evidence to bear, sharing gems from his monthly Q&A feature in which directors pose anonymous questions to experts.

Each of the 25 chapters discusses a single aspect of board governance. Broadly, they cover: board, CEO, and committee duties and performance evaluation; board structure and leadership; the logistics of meetings and board communications; managing corporate image and corporate risk; governance in various organizational contexts; and hot governance topics. Each chapter's analysis and discussion yield a checklist of do's and don'ts, which are also compiled on an accompanying CD-ROM. The checklist items are somewhat intuitive, but they're worth taking seriously in avoiding governance disasters; they also act as a handy guide to the contents of each chapter. Readers may also find useful the many links Ward provides to online sources of information: a stock options calculator, online listings of directorships available at nonprofits, industry reports, and so on.

In the final chapter, Ward notes that "through pension plans and mutual funds, the line between stakeholder and shareholder is increasingly blurring." It's an arguable point, with social, economic, and board-governance implications, but one that Ward leaves unexamined. That shortcoming aside, Improving Corporate Boards looks set to become a key contribution in the popularization of corporate governance. --Jackie Cook

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

One of Several Good Board Books, 2008-05-10
I run a small ($20M sales) manufacturing company, and have had an outside Board for about 13 years. I was recently asked to prepare a 3-hour presentation about Boards for a group of small-business CEOs, so I purchased three books to help me with the presentation. In spite of having years of experience with Boards, I learned a lot from these books. They are:

5 Steps to Board Success, Mark Daly. A very methodical, step-by-step approach to creating a Board. Excellent if you are entirely new to the process, particularly for small companies, but a bit weak on some topics (e.g., committees) for larger companies. Includes a variety of forms and example documents that would really help get started. 5 stars for small, closely-held companies, 4 stars overall.

Creating Effective Boards for Private Enterprises, John Ward. An excellent book covering in much more detail than "5 Steps" the nature of Boards, their duties and obligations, etc. Not as strong on the mechanics of forming a Board, but very strong on how to maximize the value of your board. 5 Stars if you already have a Board, 4 stars overall.

Improving Corporate Boards, Ralph Ward. Appropriate for larger corporations with functioning boards. Many good topics and bits of information, plus a lot of references to web resources, with whole chapters on audit and compensation committees. Is the only one of the three to give minutes and document retention adequate coverage. Includes a chapter on how to become a Board member, and how to improve your performance if you are one. 4 Stars - good info but aimed at larger, already-functioning boards. A bit haphazard in organization.

I heavily flagged pages in all three books, and learned a lot from them all. Each has a different focus, so the amount of overlap was surprisingly small.


9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

Improving Corporate Boards, 2000-07-20
This new book is a home run for shareholders desiring greater accountability from the boards of directors they have hired as caretakers of their funds; and gives directors a handy reference book chock full of practical tools that practically every company will find useful.

After investing in public and private companies for over 30 years, serving on numerous public and private company boards, reading dozens of books and hundreds of articles on improving company boards and better corporate governance - this is the best I have come across. Companies should provide a copy of this book for each of their directors as a matter of policy, and investors should read it to discover valuable new insights into the crucial but often forgotten links between director quality, accountability, conflicts of interest and stock price performance.


11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

Finally a Clear Guide for Boards, 2000-05-19
One of the most frequent requests from readers of CorpGov.Net is for a book on how to improve their board. Finally I can recommend a book that doesn't read like a dry academic text and is built on real life examples. Finally, a clear guide to solving the most common problems facing boards. Each chapter provides a concise overview of a problem or focus area, several real life examples, internet resources, advice from various experts and a checklist summary. CalPERS should be sending Mr. Ward's book to each board member of the companies on its focus list.

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