The Imperfect Board Member: Discovering the Seven Disciplines of Governance Excellence Hardcover – Illustrated, September 29, 2006

In a highly accessible style and with eminently applicable content, author and consultant Jim Brown leads the reader on a tour de force in board leadership. Whether you are a board member, chairman or sit on a not-for-profit board pick up this book today. You will immediately benefit from Brown’s wit and wisdom in this very effective leadership fable. Get yours today…you’ll be glad you did.

For anyone serving on or working to get onto a corporate, non-profit or faith community board, I recommend The Imperfect Board Member. While my Berkeley MBA class on boards provided an excellent summary of board membership, The Imperfect Board Member presents the material is a much easier to understand format and provide easy to remember take-aways.The book is presented as a leadership fable intertwining a CEO working with his corporate board with his role as a director on a non-profit board. For business leaders likely to be involved in both corporate and non-profit boards, mixing the two scenarios showcases the similarities of board membership regardless of the entity.While the book is a bit dated with its Blackberry screen shots, the take-aways presented are concise and memorable. Brown presents the key nuggets in the space that will fit on your phone’s screen and makes great use of rhyming to make the information stick with you (i.e. you will take it away with you rather than forget it). In addition, he provide an excellent diagram on the lines of communication from owners to board to CEO to staff to customers.As a general manager, my colleagues are frequently trying to get on corporate boards, serving on non-profit boards or involved in their faith community boards. In addition, several of the executive networking groups I am involved in have an emphasis on getting more women onto corporate boards. For each of these groups, I recommend reading The Imperfect Board Member as part of your work to prepare for board membership.

Jim Brown nails it. With big print, mind-grabbing graphics and a story line in the tradition of Ken Blanchard and Patrick Lencioni books, you'll value the author's seven disciplines in this leadership fable about business boards, nonprofit boards and faith-based boards.Example: "The best boards keep their noses in the business and their fingers out!" Brown warns, "The only way a board can responsibly do its job without meddling is by monitoring very well." Buy a bunch and give a copy to each board member and senior executive on your team.

Great for those not familiar or familiar with board level Involvement and the expectations of the job. I learned how to better lead my not for profit board better

This was a mildly informative book on board participation. It is written in the format of a novel and reads quickly and easily. The story was fun and kept my attention. The context of the book is outdated, with tons of references to the narrator’s BlackBerry. Hahaha. And the overarching GEM concept isn’t really that insightful, but it does have merits, even today. A good introductory book to serving on a board.

This book was an interesting way of educating the reader on how a good board should function. Since most board members are also consumers of the product and or service provided by the company of which we are board members, we all wear mulitple hats and have our own personal opinions on how the company should operate. This book shows how to rise above those opinions and look at the higher level vision of the company and not the day-to-day operations. I am also reading John Carver's 'Boards That Make a Difference' and firmly believe that the Board must stay out of the operations unless the CEO is extremely weak. These two books together give great ideas of how a good board should operate and how individuals within those boards should consider more than just their one view-point.

This book is written as a story which makes it interesting and seems very true to life. The Journey you are taken on teaches as it tells and by the end you have a good overview of what good Governance could look like. Perfect for a business embarking on this big step for the first time"

Most books on governance are dense and technical. Brown's approach is perfect for readers who are interested in gaining a general understanding of their role and responsibilities. I would recommend this book as part of new board member orientation and for those who want a refresher course on governance. The Imperfect Board Member: Discovering the Seven Disciplines of Governance Excellence (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership)