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Book Review: Good Governance, Great Strategy

Guide to Good Governance: Not-for-Profit and Charitable Organizations
By Anne Corbett and James M. Mackay (principal authors) and Pamela L. Cross (contributing author)

Reviewed by Neil Seeman

Boards of directors around the world are feeling tired and unloved. More often than not, popular culture ignores the acumen of directors and reserves its accolades for the chief executive officer (CEO). The cult of the CEO’s singular importance to the success of an enterprise persists. When things go well, the CEO is the one on parade at gala award dinners and the one who basks in effusive media coverage. But, and here’s the rub, when events turn sour, journalists and politicians clamour, “Where was the board?” From complete disregard, when troubles come, the board becomes the scapegoat.

As an added insult, directors in the not-for-profit sector are generally unpaid, yet their role bears potentially serious legal implications, including the threat of personal liability should directors fail in their duties. As the Ontario Hospital Association’s new Guide to Good Governance: Not-For-Profit and Charitable Organizations reminds us, directors are held to a “subjective standard of care”: legal-speak meaning that each director must exercise a level of diligence “reasonably expected of a person with their knowledge and experience.” Since board directors at health service facilities and charities across Canada are a highly experienced lot, this means that standards run very high.

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David Hurst Quoted
in Forbes

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Doing Business The Quaker Way
 Mark Lewis, 10.09.09

Imagine filing into the conference room for a business meeting, only to find the other participants sitting there in thoughtful silence. If someone has something to say, they stand up and speak; then others take their turn. No one ever interrupts. When a person finishes having his say, the silence resumes until someone else is moved to speak. No authority figure presides over the meeting, no vote is taken, and there is no agenda.

That's how Quakers run their meetings, whether they have gathered for worship or to
conduct the congregation's business. If their methods sound eccentric, consider this: In centuries past, Quaker meetings produced decisions that shaped the course of capitalism. Given the poor-quality decisions emerging from corporate conference rooms these days, a revival of Quaker methods may be long overdue.

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Last revised: February 19, 2009