Boardroom INSIDER for… AUGUST
Corporate Boards Are Now A Real Job (so why do we still treat it like a hobby?)
While today’s over-stressed corporate board members may not know it, they’re actually pioneering a business role never seen before – corporate boards that are actual working bodies. In the August issue of online monthly Boardroom INSIDER, editor and board speaker Ralph Ward writes that historically, global boards of directors were either ceremonial, owners of the company, or the top exec team “swapping roles for a few minutes to meet fiduciary duties.”
Today, though, regulators and courts have demanded boards take on intense, tactical roles in company oversight, with tough penalties for failure. But Ward notes “boards were never actually designed to do this sort of work.” Board structures, training, support and operations are slowly catching up, but results are “still piecemeal, amateurish and reactive.” “Today, the board has a real job… let’s start treating it like one.”
Also in the August issue of Boardroom INSIDER …
Four issues facing foundation boards The AI dangers hiding in your board records
Q&A: “I just can’t stand one of our board members!”
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Ralph Ward’s new book…
Hacking the Boardroom (Taylor & Francis) is the lifesaver every director needs today. This is the intelligence that boards must have to do a better oversight job, in less time, with less effort, and fewer legal dangers. Proven “how to” insights from front-line board members, CEOs, corporate staffers, top consultants and legal advisors. Corporations, nonprofits, government enterprises… any organization where directors are battling 21st Century governance realities will learn from the hacks in this “owner’s manual for the boardroom.”
Visit the Hacking the Boardroom site today!
NEW – the audio version of Hacking the Boardroom now on Audible!
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RALPH WARD…
…is an internationally-recognized writer and commentator on the role of boards of directors, the secrets of how benchmark boards excel, gaining a board seat, and the future of governance worldwide.
Ward is the publisher of the online email newsletter Boardroom INSIDER, the worldwide source for practical, first-hand advice on better boards and directors ( www.boardroominsider.com).
He is author of the books Hacking the Boardroom (2025), Board Seeker: Your Guidebook and Career Map into the Corporate Boardroom (2018), Boardroom Q&A (2011), The New Boardroom Leaders (2008), Saving the Corporate Board (2003), Improving Corporate Boards: The Boardroom INSIDER Guidebook (2000), and 21st Century Corporate Board (1997).
Ward is a certified trainer, and speaks internationally on board and governance topics, and presents a “Boardroom Masterclass” seminar worldwide, with recent programs in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. His media appearances including CNNfn, C-SPAN, Voice of America, Bloomberg Money Show, National Public Radio, Marketplace, and CNBC (U.S. and U.K.).
Ward has also edited The Corporate Board magazine, the international journal of corporate governance, since 1990. He writes and comments on boardroom matters for a number of other publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Across the Board, Crains, Vital Speeches, the Detroit Free Press, Barrons and INC.com., and serves on several advisory and non-profit boards.