Board Guru™ on: this week’s best corporate governance resources.

First, a recently released paper titled “Industry Expertise on Corporate Boards” has some insightful research on how independent directors add value on boards:
- Firm value is significantly higher when industry experts serve on the board.
- Robust positive and statistically significant association between board industry expertise and corporate innovation measures such as R&D investments, patents granted, and patent citations.
Also, the hot topic of when is a person ready to serve on a board was explored in a Financial Times article. I would encourage those of you who are board candidates to read the article and buy the Amazon ($9.99) eBook “Becoming a Public Company Director.” Qualities stressed are:
- Strategic insight and judgment
- An independent mind
- Sufficient interpersonal skills to be trusted and persuasive
Leadership Presence and Strategic Engagement:
Finally, I attended (via live stream) this week’s 2012 NeuroLeadership Summit. The focus was performance effectiveness in a transformative era. In this time of change, each leader and their team can benefit from cutting-edge research on how to have a “happy brain” to support goal achievement. Here are a few take-ways:
1. Leading from the mind’s eye defaults to negative (brain looks for pain/danger) – you have to switch to a practiced “count your blessings” approach to maximize performance.
2. When receiving positive support, the brain sends signs of security and decreases feelings of vulnerability.
3. Leadership transition: move from expressing whatever you feel to considering impact on stakeholders before you speak.
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