Two brand-spanking-new corporate governance books are worth checking out:

The Board Book: An Insider's Guide for Directors and Trustees by William G. Bowen (former president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Princeton University) (256 pages, Norton, April 2008). His biography is at: Mellon.org
William Bowen is scheduled to be a feature speaker at the NACD Corporate Governance Conference in Washington, DC this October 19-21.

The primary focus is on board leadership, CEO compensation and succession planning (evaluating and replacing leadership). Some discussion of board structure and mechanics, with two whole pages on “diversity.” One interesting chapter discusses the question of whether for-profit and not-for profit board practices might be converging, a theme often discussed in this blog and our other articles.

Coming this October will be the release of Ralph Ward’s latest book on governance: The New Boardroom Leaders (Greenwood/Praeger, October 2008) based on his conversations with independent board chairs, lead directors, and committee chairs who are shaping this boardroom revolution. Scheduled release date is October 30, 2008.

Ralph D. Ward is publisher and editor of the corporate governance newsletter Boardroom INSIDER, and the editor of The Corporate Board magazine. Other books by Mr. Ward should be in every director's library: Saving the Corporate Board, Improving Corporate Boards: The Boardroom INSIDER Guidebook, and 21st Century Corporate Board.

See his website: Board Insider.com