The subprime mortgage crisis caught many financial service giants unaware, and reached far beyond trading desks all the way to their boardrooms. Indeed, despite their best efforts to govern properly, boards of directors throughout almost an entire industry missed a critical issue, and compounded that problem by not having robust succession planning to stem the crisis. Can boards do better? "Owning Up" author Ram Charan answers with an emphatic, 'Yes!' Some boards are already doing all the right things. Leadership guru Charan describes the best emerging practices for boards - with real examples of how some of the best in the business solve today's thorniest boardroom problems - and helps readers determine whether their boards are owning up to governance by asking the most vital questions. Ram Charan (Dallas, TX) is coauthor (with Larry Bossidy) of 2002's runaway bestseller "Execution" (978-0-609-61057-2) and author of "The Leadership Pipeline" (978-0-7879-5172-6) and "Boards That Deliver" (978-0-7879-7139-7). Charan is also a highly sought-after advisor to corporations, boards, CEOs, and senior executives.
1. Question 1. Is Our Board Composition Right for the Challenge?
2. Question 2. Are We Addressing the Risks That Could Send Our Company over the Cliff?
3. Question 3. Are We Prepared to Do Our Job Well When a Crisis Erupts?
4. Question 4. Are We Well Prepared to Name Our Next CEO?
5. Question 5. Does Our Board Really Own the Company's Strategy?
6. Question 6. How Can We Get the Information We Need to Govern Well?
7. Question 7. How Can Our Board Get CEO Compensation Right?
8. Question 8. Why Do We Need a Lead Director Anyway?
9. Question 9. Is Our Governance Committee Best of Breed?
10. Question10. How Do We Get the Most Value out of Our Limited Time?
11. Question11. How Can Executive Sessions Help the Board Own Up?
12. Question12. How Can Our Board Self-Evaluation Improve Our Functioning and Our Output?
13. Question13. How Do We Stop from Micromanaging?
14. Question14. How Prepared Are We to Work with Activist Shareholders and Their Proxies?
"This book is a most important contribution for both new and experienced directors, addressing contemporary corporate governance. The 14 pracdtical questions represent the most vital issues that boards need to proactively address and are particularly crucial now as boards deal with the afermath of the global financial tsunami."
-- Thomas J. Neff, chirman, U.S.,Spencer Stuart --
"If Corporate America's board members had answered these questions, the crisis of '08 would have been avoided. The book is that powerful. It should be required reading in every boardroom, executive suite, and business school on the planet. This book with its singular wisdom could change the face of corporate governance--with huge dividends to shareholders and society."
-- Ralph Whitworth, principal, Relational Investors LLC --
"Ram Charan always seems to get it right. Owning Up not only asks the right questions, it gives answers that can make a real difference for improving board performance."
-- James M. Kilts, former chairman and CEO, The Gillette Company --