The Board Book: An Insider's Guide for Directors and Trustees

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 256 pages
• Published by: W. W. Norton April 7, 2008
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0393066452
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0393066456
• Book Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Weighs: 15.2 ounces

Product Description
A must-have for first-time and experienced board members alike, who will benefit from William G. Bowen's decades of experience.

Former Mellon Foundation and Princeton University president William G. Bowen has served on the boards of some of the United States's biggest corporations and nonprofits, including American Express, Merck, the Smithsonian, and TIAA-CREF. In The Board Book he brings his immense experience, along with the recollections and insights of numerous colleagues, to bear on the most pressing questions facing boards of directors and trustees today. His topics include the hot-button issues of the relationship between CEOs and board members, "perks," executive compensation, and CEO transitions. In addition, Bowen offers advice on the "machinery" required to run a board effectively, including the uses of committees and executive sessions, the handling of leaks, and the recruitment of new board members. Throughout, Bowen relates, with anecdotes and hard data, strategies that result in the collegiality and sense of purpose that make any board more effective.

About The Author
William G. Bowen is the author of more than twenty books, including The Shape of the River and Equity and Excellence in American Higher Education. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

Reader Reviews
This is a remarkable and valuable book. Remarkable in the depth and intensity of its coverage of the subject, and valuable as a road map for directors and potential directors, not to mention CEOs who may be confounded by their relationship with their boards. Bowen was a Professor of Economics who became President of Princeton University, then of the Mellon Foundation, and later Ithaca Harbors. He has been on both sides--management and director--and has broad experience in both the non-profit and the for-profit worlds. His service on the boards of several pre-eminent U.S. companies, a few of which have gone through periods of challenge and adversity, has given him unique background and experience. We are fortunate that someone with his credentials has decided to tackle with such passion and insight the thorny and difficult issues that boards have to deal with. The approach is not that of an academic describing the structures and responsibilities of boards; rather Bowen comes with strong points of view on many of the most controversial issues. Readers (including this reviewer) are certain to disagree with some of his positions, but will have to give him high marks for fairly presenting the other side of most issues. CEOs who want the title of Chairman may not be happy, nor aging board members, not long serving board members, nor the retired CEO who just became Chairman. But each of these players will find the materials provocative and enlightening. What is also remarkable about this book is its underscoring how much has changed in the past 14 years in board matters. Bowen had previously authored a book on the same subject entitled "Inside the Board Room." The landscape today is barely recognizable from that of 1994. Not only has there been new legislation that encompasses and governs some board activities, but there have been as well dramatic changes in the mores of boards in the United States. Every large investor in a public company should seriously consider this book as an early Christmas present to each member of the board of directors of his company, with maybe a label of "Urgent" on the copies for the chair persons of the nominating committee and the compensation committee!