John T. Montford

Succeeding in today's corporate and not-for-profit boardrooms is tougher than ever before, with new and established board directors facing myriad new and rapidly globalizing governance challenges. Directors and aspiring board candidates need a survival guide to beat the odds and avoid crises—the best credentials and the best of intentions aren't enough. This book is that guide.Board Games: Straight Talk for New Directors and Good Governance is an essential resource for any current or aspiring board director. It identifies the issues directors are most likely to face in today's rapidly changing, potentially hazardous business environments, offering candid, well-informed insights that address emerging issues, potential conflicts, and real-board situations. Readers will learn how to be more effective, more informed, and more diligent directors committed to the shareholders' best interests—even if that mindset challenges the interests of current management.This book shows new directors on any board how the current systems of financial reporting, regulatory compliance, and crisis management work, serving as a playbook that can help them serve the corporate good while protecting themselves—and do the right thing for shareholders, employees, customers, and communities they serve. The authors apply their extensive experience at the top of various corporations and nonprofit organizations to identify the behind-the-scenes, boardroom-culture issues that can trip up any director and demonstrate the critical importance of committing to the right governance, due diligence, and independent oversight.

The Big Bend, the Big Country, the Big Empty. The High Plains, the Permian and the Panhandle. Cowboys, Cowtown and the curl of a killer tornado. A place where you can stretch your eyeballs. Where the Hale-Bopp comet, hardly visible above some smoggy, light-polluted cities, looked like it could drop into the Pecos River at any moment. ""West Texas"", home to the states biggest legends, is chronicled by two authors who have spent most of their careers crisscrossing it. Mike Cochran and John Lumpkin, Associated Press journalists, bring their experiences to the pages of this handsome volume, accompanied by fifty photographs of the West Texas landscape, its people and its history. Converse with West Texas characters like Stanley Marsh 3, conman Billy Sol Estes, and Big Springs merry messiah, Marj Carpenter. Meet Gordon Wood, Friday night footballs winningest coach, and Groner Pitts, Brownwoods liveliest undertaker. Remember ranching icon Watt Matthews, the founders of Santa Rita No. 1, and Lubbocks C. W. Stubblefield, magnet to blues and country music stars. Honor Hallie Stillwell, Frenchy McCormick, and even modern arts Georgia OKeeffe, who put their stamp on Texas' most fascinating region. A West Texan once said, they show no pictures of my province or even neighboring provinces. They leave a big hole in Texas. No more is that the case, thanks to Mike Cochran and John Lumpkin.