Giving Voice to Values in the Boardroom

This book takes the central issues facing board members today and applies the giving voice to values framework while also providing insights from practicing board members who have faced these issues. It covers such topics as strategic planning and monitoring, director independence, privacy and cyber risk, executive compensation and CEO succession planning. With this book, readers will also grapple with the conflicts of interest that might arise in the director selection process, role of the nominating committee and the compensation committee in order to cultivate more optimal board dynamics.

The principles of giving voice to values start by asking a deceptively simple question: ’What if you were going to act on your values--what would you say and do?’ The book then provides an overview of the current landscape of corporate governance along with the major rules and director duties applicable to the board of directors. The book’s latter chapters contain a series of five scenarios common to the board of directors that are presented as a set of ＂Board Challenges＂ involving the tensions often found in board work.

In Giving Voice to Values in the Boardroom, the author, Cynthia E. Clark, provides practical strategies for board members and other constituents of corporate governance to deal with these challenges. These cases are designed to help users of the book implement prescripting and action planning. Each case will also have discussion questions about the stakes and stakeholders, common reasons and rationalizations and examples of how firms and governance professionals have handled similar board challenges.

Cynthia E. Clark, Ph.D is a corporate governance and business ethics expert. She is the author of Business & Society: Ethical, Legal and Digital Environments. She has conducted training sessions on ethical decision-making, shareholder activism and optimal nominating and governance procedures to numerous senior management teams and boards of directors. She is widely cited in the media on governance issues, including recently in The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, CNN, Reuters and multiple appearances on Bloomberg Radio. She is an active member and speaker with the National Association of Corporate Directors, 2020 Women on Boards and the Society for Governance Professionals. Cynthia is also a Professor of Management at Bentley University and Director of the Geneen Institute for Corporate Governance.