Boards That Deliver Advancing Corporate Governance From Compliance to Competitive Advantage

by Charan, Ram

• ISBN13: 9780787971397
• ISBN10: 0787971391
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-02-03
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass

Summary

Finally, a book that brings the vision of truly good governance down to earth. Ram Charan, expert in corporate governance and best-selling author, packs this book with useful tools and techniques to take boards and their companies to a higher level of performance. Charan puts his finger on a growing problem for boards: the disconnect between directors' efforts and their results. The added time and attention boards invest is not translating into better governance'that is, governance that adds value to the business.Boards That Deliver gets beyond the rhetoric of corporate governance reform. It captures the tried-and-true practices used by high-performance boards. In contrast to experts who base prescriptions on number-crunching exercises, Charan identifies the real problems that drain directors' time and suppress their best judgments'and explains clearly and succinctly how boards can solve those problems. These battle-tested solutions help boards achieve what rules and regulations alone cannot'to get succession right, refine a winning strategy, and design a rational CEO compensation package.Good governance requires leadership. Boards That Deliver is the no-nonsense guide for directors and CEOs who are rising to the leadership challenge to make their boards a competitive advantage.

Author Biography

Ram Charan is the go-to adviser for corporate directors and CEOs. Highly sought for his unique insights and practical wisdom, Charan has counseled some of the world's most successful and prominent business leaders at companies including General Electric, DuPont, Verizon, and EMC. His expertise in corporate governance stems from first-hand experiences helping boards with strategy sessions, successions, self-evaluations, and CEO compensation. Charan is co-host of the Fortune Boardroom Forums, has served on the NACD's Blue Ribbon Commission on Corporate Governance, and is director of the Six Sigma Academy and of Austin Industries in Dallas. He is the coauthor of two best-sellers—Execution and Confronting Reality—and has been published by Fortune and Harvard Business Review. Charan is the author of the 1998 book Boards at Work. He has an MBA with high distinction and a doctoral degree with boards of directors as a field of study from the Harvard Business School.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Advancing the Practice of Corporate Governance.

Part One: Boards in Transition.

1. The Three Phases of a Board’s Evolution.

2. What Makes a Board Progressive.

Part Two: The Three Building Blocks of Progressive Boards.

3. Group Dynamics.

4. Information Architecture.

5. Focus on Substantive Issues.

Part Three: Contributions That Count.

6. The Right CEO and Succession.

7. CEO Compensation.

8. The Right Strategy.

9. The Leadership Gene Pool.

10. Monitoring Health, Performance, and Risk.

Part Four: Maintaining Momentum.

11. Board Operations.

12. Working with Investors.

Conclusion: Leveraging the Board for Competitive Advantage.

Appendix A: Sample Strategy Blueprint.

Appendix B: The Research Agenda.

Acknowledgments.

About the Author.

Index.