Boards That Excel

CHAPTER 6

Embrace the Best of “Good Governance”

Emerging Orthodoxy

A book on governance would be incomplete without taking note of the search for good governance practices over the last thirty years. It began with the shareholder rights movement of the 1980s and 1990s and accelerated with federal legislation following the corporate failures and scandals of the last fifteen years. We have seen good governance initiatives on the part of legislators and regulators, reformers, stock exchanges, activist and institutional investors, and proxy advisory services. Corporate boards have been much affected by these initiatives, and much has changed in boardrooms as a result. The initiatives have spilled over into the nonprofit world as nonprofit boards ...