In the world of corporate governance, the board of directors is often viewed as the "black box" of companies: only the board members who are seated at the meeting table understand how this "decision-making machine" works. In this book, a board member with over 25 years' experience pulls off the lid and shows both how boards have worked and how they could work.
This book is grounded in extensive research in three different surveys: one with more than 100 Brazilian directors, another with 340 board members from 40 countries, and a final one with 103 Brazilian directors serving on 238 boards. It also includes interviews with Ira Millstein, Sir Adrian Cadbury, Robert Monks and Mervyn King. The inner-workings of the board of directors are revealed:
* What keeps directors awake at night
* Obstacles to efficient decision-making
* Behavioral dynamics, both within the board and in relation to the management
* Pitfalls that arise from individual and group biases