Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations [Hardcover]

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.

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: Whats Not OK, Even if It Works 115

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

7. The Boards Responsibility for Itself: Governing Oneself Precedes Governing Others 185

8. Officers and Committees: The Chief Governance Officer and Other Divisionsl³ž