Book Beat

Doing Good Better

Doing Good Better: How to Be an Effective Board Member of a Nonprofit Organization (©2015, Good Books), by Edgar Stoesz, is a handbook for nonprofit board member service. In addition to providing case studies and a Board Evaluation Form, a Director’s Self-Evaluation Form, and an outline for the Executive Director Annual Review, the book covers:


  • Helping directors understand their governance role;
  • A plan to fulfill the organization’s mission;
  • Reporting back to the members—good and bad news;
  • Planning effective meetings;
  • Constructive debate with other members;
  • Working through a crisis, and then how to celebrate; and
  • Leaving on the best terms possible.
 
You Are Singletasking: Get More Done One Thing at a Time

The Internet—which spawned social media—has changed the way we work and communicate, says James Pooley, author of Secrets: Managing Information Assets in the Age of Cyberespionage (©2015, Verus Press). That change has profound implications for a trade secret system that relies largely on human trust. The book addresses how to:


  • Identify and reduce your risk of information loss;
  • Deal with employees leaving to join or start a competitor;
  • Manage your data on the Internet and in the Cloud;
  • Handle the security risks of social media;
  • Avoid liability for having someone else’s secrets;
  • Build an information protection program with best practices; and
  • Respond when you find a breach of confidentiality.
 
You Are Singletasking: Get More Done One Thing at a Time

Every day, talented, hardworking and deserving women are passed over for promotions. While it's easy to blame a corporate culture that favors men, Grace Killelea, author The Confidence Effect: Every Woman's Guide to the Attitude That Attracts Success (©2016, AMACON), identifies a different personal accountability-driven culprit: a shockingly prevalent and grievous disparity in confidence. While men are prone to overestimate their abilities, all too often women sell themselves short and needlessly languish in marginalized careers, according to the author. The book explores four cornerstones of success—Relationships, Reputation, Results, and Resilience®—and includes practical strategies showing how to turn job competency into the kind of authentic confidence that gets noticed. Using these pillars, the book shows aspiring professionals how to elevate their workplace skills and transcend their perceived limitations to achieve sustained business and personal success.