On the subject of books/essays about the role of boards, I wanted to suggest Servant Leadership, the collection of Robert Greenleaf's essays on leadership and institutions. Specifically, the first three essays: "The Servant as Leader, "The Institution as Servant", and "Trustee as Servants" (note: the first essay, "Servant as Leader", has nothing to do with the question of effective nonprofit governance, but it's necessary to understand the other two essays; plus, it's one of the great essays ever written on the subject of leadership).
That said, I should preface this recommendation by warning folks that this set of essays is trying to do something different than Holden's very practical advice above (and what... (read more)
On the subject of books/essays about the role of boards, I wanted to suggest Servant Leadership, the collection of Robert Greenleaf's essays on leadership and institutions. Specifically, the first three essays: "The Servant as Leader, "The Institution as Servant", and "Trustee as Servants" (note: the first essay, "Servant as Leader", has nothing to do with the question of effective nonprofit governance, but it's necessary to understand the other two essays; plus, it's one of the great essays ever written on the subject of leadership).
That said, I should preface this recommendation by warning folks that this set of essays is trying to do something different than Holden's very practical advice above (and what... (read more)