The Governance Revolution

Boards of directors are sitting ducks. Shareholders complain and even attack, management manipulates, and individual board members have little power, able to act only as part of the board as a whole. Governance issues are front and center, yet there is often little understanding, even among board members, of the key role that they play.

Written in an accessible and human voice, The Governance Revolution: What Every Board Member Needs to Know, NOW! provides information and context essential to anyone seeking to understand how corporations and their stewardsthe board of directorscan and should function in the volatile world we inhabit.

Deborah Hicks Midanek offers useful insight into what board members of corporations actually do, the current standards for board members and why they exist. She includes a timely discussion of how clarity of purpose can improve board and director effectiveness. Informed by her long experience serving public, private, and family owned corporate boards as well as those of charitable, and government organizations, she provides essential context regarding the evolution of board practice as well as candid discussion of the issues involved in the relentless effort to improve corporate governance processes. Focused mainly on the dominant public corporation, she also explores the special challenges of serving private and family owned as well as nonprofit and public agency boards.

Written by a seasoned board member, and liberally laced with stories and cases illustrating the tricky issues directors wrestle with, this book is the essential common-sense companion for anyone working with a board, serving on a board, or wanting to do so. Directors, aspiring directors, investors, and students of corporate behavior will benefit from this highly readable description of the cloistered boardroom.

For Roger Trapp's article in Forbes featuring a discussion of this title click here

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogertrapp/2018/10/22/independent-directors-nehttps://www.forbes.com/sites/rogertrapp/2018/10/22/independent-directors-need-to-stand-up-to-activists/#7060008826b0ed-to-stand-up-to-activists/#7060008826b0

For a Roundtable discussion in Financier Worldwide Magazine featuring Deborah Hicks Midanek please click here

https://www.financierworldwide.com/roundtable-risks-facing-directors-officers-aug18#.W1BqQdVKiUk

Click here for a review in Financial Analysts Journal

https://www.cfapubs.org/doi/abs/10.2469/br.v13.n1.10

Click here for an excerpt on Corporate Board Member:

https://boardmember.com/what-is-the-governance-revolution/

Auteur

Deborah Hicks Midanek, Principal, Prevail Investments, LLC; Vice Chairman & Independent Director, Innovate MS., USA

Résumé
This series includes professional unbiased books on corporate topics with an emphasis on governance, corporate leadership, and sustainability.

Contenu

Part I: The System and How It Came To Be 1

Chapter 1: How Our Governance System Began 3

The First Limited Liability Corporation 3

Amsterdam Stock Exchange Established to List VOC Securities 4

VOC Completes Initial Public Offering, Possibly World's First 4

The Governance of VOC Establishes the Model 5

The Lords Seventeen Governance Structure Drawn from Guild

System 5

VOC Confronts a Large Activist Shareholder 6

. . . And a Bear Syndicate 6

The Corporate Form Advances and SpreadsAnd with It, the Board 7

Corporations Arrived in the New World 8

And Bubbles Burst 9

Chapter 2: The Emergence of the Corporation in United States 11

New York Pioneers Simple Incorporation Procedure 11

Boston Manufacturing Company is First Private Corporation in United

States 12

Corporations Gain Power Under State Control 13

Economic Opportunity Expands; Farmers and Artisans Suffer

Disruption 14

Corporate Control is Concentrated 15

How J.D. Rockefeller Went from Rags to Riches 15

The Government Fights Back, Kind Of 16

Early Days of the New York Stock Exchange 17

Teddy Busts the Trusts 19

Government Power Takes on Commercial Power: Teddy v J.P. 19

Unintended Consequences Lead to More Antitrust Laws 20

Chapter 3: PostWorld War I Developments 23

The Stock Market Crashes 23

The Great Depression and FDR's New Deal 23

Safety Net for Banks Created 24

Regulation of Securities and Securities Markets Takes Root 25

Safety Net Extended to Citizens as Social Security is Born 25

Frustration Sets in as Unemployment Persists 26

Government and Business Mobilize for World War II 27

Roosevelt and Business Create Formidable Alliance 27

Solidarity Works Miracles 28

Wartime Success Reaches Far Beyond Battlefields 29

Chapter 4: The Glow Following World War II 31

The 1950s Board Role 31

Stock Market Investing is Patriotic Duty 32

The Nifty Fifty Catches On 33

Investor Relations Become a Corporate Function 34

Chapter 5: Shifting Dynamics from 1970 to 2000 35

Agency Theory is Born 35

The Stock Market Corrects 36

Outrage over the Wreck of Penn Central Fuels New Focus on Board

Role 36

Broad Corruption Revealed Leads to Focus on Governance Per Se 37

The Board as Overseer Takes Root as Independent Directors Become

Desirable 38

The Definition of Independence Proves Elusive; We Know It When We

See It 38

The 1980s Board Role: The Board Becomes Important 39

Mighty Institutional Investors Weigh In 40

The Courts Recognize Independent Judgment of the Board as Mission

Critical 41

Economic Uncertainty and Social Unrest Reduce American

Confidence 42

Market Crashes on Black Monday 42

Changing Market Forces Become Visible 43

NYSE Establishes Safeguards 43

The 1990s Board: Independence Criteria Tighten as Equity Linked

Compensation Grows 44

True Independence Grows in Value 45

Equity Linked Compensation Creates Moral Hazard 46

Independence of Mind Needs Help from Independence of

Process 46

Revolving CEOs 47

Chapter 6: Post 2000 Intensification of Focus on the Board 49

Corruption Eruption Leads to Sarbanes Oxley and Growing Focus on

Board 50

The Functioning of the Board of Directors Gains Attention 52

Sarbanes-Oxley Act 54

Part II: The Players and Capital Market Forces 59

Chapter 7: The Rise of Independent/Disinterested Directors 61

Considering Independent Director Effectiveness 61

Dueling Definitions 62

New York Stock Exchange Listing Requirements Stress Independence of

Directors 62

Independent Directors Fill a Structural and Legal Need 66

Chapter 8: The Rise of Institutional Investors 69

Mutual Fund Development 69

Comments from Mutual Fund Leader John C. Bogle 71

The Growth of Passive Investing 74

The Defined Benefit Pension Plan Grows 75

Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) Strengthens

Pension Rules 76

The Defined Benefit Pension Plan Declines 77

Retirement Assets Shift into Mutual Funds 78

Public Sector Pension Plans 78

The Growing Pension Crisis 79

Investing by Public and Private Plan Fiduciaries 80

Shifting Patterns of Share Ownership in United States 82

The Perils and Possibilities of Concentrated Share Ownership 83

The Rise of Proxy Advisor Power 84

Proxy Advisors Helped Interpret High Volume of Information 85

Responsible Voting of Proxies in Best Interests of …