The United States corporate landscape is littered with the still-warm wrecks of poorly managed companies, but if any aspiring or existing directors of mainland boards were looking to the American experience for pointers to improve their organisation's governance, they would do well to consult Texas-based Ram Charan's Owning Up - The 14 Questions Every Board Member Needs to Ask.
Charan insists that the corporate world has irrevocably changed in the past two years and it is not enough for board members to sit back and passively oversee operations. Directors are increasingly being held publicly accountable for the performance of their firms and must grapple head-on with the threats that turmoil brings - all without straying into micromanagement territory.
One of the first questions directors have to ask is whether they are the right people for the job. An effective board needs generalists and specialists versed in accounting standards, logistics, credit options and technology, but those members must also work together under enlightened leadership and within a positive group dynamic.
This means coming up with formal processes to move directors both in and out of the boardroom when the skill set falls short.
As Charan suggests, it's never too early to think about succession. The succession question also applies to chief executive appointments. An incumbent executive may have expanded the company through organic growth in difficult years, but does that justify holding on to the person when rare opportunities for mergers and acquisitions arise?
To resolve the issue, Charan says boards need to think less about contenders and more about context. Directors have to start the succession process several years in advance by first identifying what the company needs most.