Skip to main content
Palgrave Macmillan

The Independent Director in Society

Our current crisis of governance and what to do about it

  • Book
  • © 2020

Overview

  • Surveys and analyses the crisis in governance across organisations in the UK
  • Draws on in-depth, empirical research from the authors' work at Henley Business School
  • Argues compellingly for the role of non-executive directors in cultivating organisational excellence

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

eBook USD 29.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 37.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 37.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. The Challenge

  2. Independent Directors and Boards

  3. Making Boards More Effective

Keywords

About this book

Things will always go wrong in organisations. The question is how quickly will they get caught and put right?

The problem facing every organisation today – our businesses, universities, health services, or the many other sporting and charitable institutions that shape our society – is that the relationship between their executive management and those whose job it is to oversee them (whether they are called non-executive or independent directors, trustees, or governors) has become unbalanced.

The Independent Director in Society shows how to rebalance it.

Based on original, in-depth research from Henley Business School, this is the first book to survey and analyse the governance crisis right across society rather than just focus upon the business sector. The authors show that – despite their many differences – all organisations have many issues, behaviours and problems in common. The same problems require, in many cases, the same solutions. Sometimes they don’t.

The authors offer two answers. The first lies in the realm of policy. Not a need for more legislation, but a move to give the existing codes of practice back their teeth and make them fit for purpose.

The second lies with independent directors themselves. Urgent improvement is needed in standards of thought and action as well as the calibre of these directors. Above all, directors need to develop an independent mindset that will enable them to make better, more accurate decisions.

There are many elements to creating this culture, including selection, training and education for directors, and support from chairs and executive teams, but most of all directors themselves must recognise their responsibilities in a complex and volatile world.


Authors and Affiliations

  • GBrown Associates Ltd, READING, UK

    Gerry Brown

  • Henley Business School, Henley on Thames, UK

    Andrew Kakabadse

  • Henley Business School, University of Reading, Reading, UK

    Filipe Morais

About the authors

Gerry Brown is Chairman of both private equity firm Novaquest Capital Management, and of G. Brown Associates Ltd – a family company providing consultancy services. He is a Council Member of the University of Exeter and Visiting Fellow at Henley Business School, UK. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors, and on the Advisory Board for Corporate Governance. He has held several independent director and chairman posts in public and private companies across a variety of industries and geographies, and is the author of The Independent Director: The Non-Executive Director’s Guide to Effective Board Presence (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).  

Filipe Morais is Lecturer in Governance at Henley Business School. He is Programme Director for Henley’s MSc in Management for Future Leaders, and teaches corporate governance and strategic management topics in various programmes. He is a regular speaker at academic and practitioner conferences. He formerly worked for over 10 years in senior HR and general management positions in the automotive, semiconductor, health and higher education industries in the UK and Portugal. In 2018, he received the Academy of Management’s Outstanding Reviewer Award.

Andrew Kakabadse is Professor of Governance and Leadership at Henley Business School, where he is also Programme Director of the Board Directors’ Programme. He was previously Professor of International Management Development at Cranfield School of Management, UK, where he was made Emeritus Professor. He has consulted and lectured widely, and his current areas of interest focus on improving the performance of top executives, executive teams, and boards; excellence in consultancy practice; leadership; and corporate governance.


Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Independent Director in Society

  • Book Subtitle: Our current crisis of governance and what to do about it

  • Authors: Gerry Brown, Andrew Kakabadse, Filipe Morais

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51303-0

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Business and Management, Business and Management (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-51302-3Published: 29 August 2020

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-51305-4Published: 29 August 2021

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-51303-0Published: 28 August 2020

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXI, 271

  • Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations, 57 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Corporate Governance, Non-Profit Organizations and Public Enterprises, Health Care Management, Management, Sport Science , Sports Economics

Publish with us