Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations / Edition 3

by John Carver

Overview

In this revised and updated third edition, Carver continues to debunk the entrenched beliefs and habits that hobble boards and to replace them with his innovative approach to effective governance. This proven model offers an empowering and fundamental redesign of the board role and emphasizes values, vision, empowerment of both the board and staff, and strategic ability to lead leaders. Policy Governance gives board members and staff a new approach to board job design, board-staff relationships, the role of the chief executive, performance monitoring, and virtually every aspect of the board-management relationship. This latest edition has been updated and expanded to include explanatory diagrams that have been used by thousands of Carver's seminar participants. It also contains illustrative examples of Policy Governance model policies that have been created by real-world organizations. In addition, this third edition of Boards That Make a Difference includes a new chapter on model criticisms and the challenges of governance research.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780787976163
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	02/24/2006
Series:	J-B Carver Board Governance Series , #6
Edition description:	Revised Edition
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	190,460
Product dimensions:	9.18(w) x 10.88(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

John Carver is known internationally as the creator of the breakthrough in board leadership called the Policy Governance Model. He has worked with boards in the United States and Canada as well as on four other continents for over twenty-five years. His clients have included the National Association of State Boards of Education, the National Ballet of Canada, the American Institute of Architects, the Pentagon Federal Credit Union, Lutheran World Relief and the American Cancer Society. He is author of the bi-monthly newsletter workshop Board Leadership and his books have sold over 250,000 copies around the world.

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Table of Contents

Preface to the Third Edition vii

Preface xiii

The Author xxiii

Prologue: Beginning and Ending with Purpose xxvii

Introduction 1

1. Leadership by Governing Boards: A Vision of Group Accountability 5

2. Policy as a Leadership Tool: The Force of Explicit Values 37

3. Designing Policies That Make a Difference: Governing by Values 55

4. Focusing on Results: The Power of Purpose 79

5. Controlling Ethics and Prudence: What’s Not OK, Even if It Works 115

6. Strong Boards Need Strong Executives: The Board-Executive Relationship 153

7. The Board’s Responsibility for Itself: Governing Oneself Precedes Governing Others 185

8. Officers and Committees: The Chief Governance Officer and Other Divisions of Board Labor 215

9. Policy Development by Levels: Adding Details Judiciously 239

10. Making Meetings Meaningful: Creating the Future More Than Reviewing the Past 257

11. Maintaining Board Leadership: Staying on Track and Institutionalizing Excellence 287

12. But Does It Work? Criticisms, Effectiveness Research, and Model Consistency 319

Resource A: Varieties of Policy Governance Applications 345

Resource B: Bylaws 365

Resource C: Glossary 371

References 379

Index 405

Editorial Reviews

"When I came upon Carver's book, I threw away everything I had collected on the subject of boards." (NRB, July/Aug. 2002)

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