Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations

John Carver's book "boards that make a difference" constitute a formidable source of knowledge for CEOs efforts accompanying their Board's transformation to become more efficient and start making a difference

An excellent book that is a serious must read for anyone who is a member of a board. The best how to and why book I have ever seen. Certainly worth the price.

This book is one of those books that has so much valuable material... that if you've checked it out of the library... you are likely to go out and purchase a copy so you'll have it around permanently to refer to. If you are interested in re-inventing your board, want to focus on vision and get away from administrivia.. this book offers the direction on how to do it. Carver is the major player is making boards effective contributors to organizations, of defining what governance is and how to get there.

I am currently a newly appointed Board chairperson for a non-profit Christian school and we have been using John Carver's Policy Governance model for the last year. While we still have a long way to go to incorporate it completely into the fabric of our board processes, we have made great strides toward it in only a year. This book is excellent in helping us get there. I have also read several of John Carver's guides and although they are somewhat small for the money you have to pay for them, they also contain very good information. We hope to study these principles as part of our on-going board training during this board fiscal year.

Mr. Carver presents a very readable way of looking at how governing boards should work. His theories are logical and his arguments pursuasive. He offers board members an intellectual framework to consider how their organizations are running. The book is prescriptive, but not preachy. I was very surprised to find it sensible after hearing so much hype from "converts" to his method.