Making Boards Work: What Directors Must Do to Make Canadian Boards Effective

M. Wayne Cunningham, formerly the director of Academic and Career
Programs at East Kootenay Community College, is a freelance writer
specializing in the arts in Kamloops, British Columbia.

David Leighton and Donald Thain bring a wealth of business and academic
credentials to a book that is essential reading for boards of directors,
whether in the private, public, or not-for-profit sectors. The 30-plus
boards on which the authors have served include those at Gulf Canada,
Rio Algom, Montreal Trust, Goodyear Canada, and Denison Mines.

In dealing with the critical issues of board governance, Leighton and
Thain draw extensively on personal experience. They use the case study
method to illustrate many of their conclusions. In a chapter titled
“The Old and the New Board Cultures,” they identify six
areas—leadership, legitimacy and power, job definition, competence,
culture, and board management—as critical factors in the future
success of Canadian boards.