Board Development Resources

• BoardSource: The leading resource, includes an extensive book store, handouts and webinars to guide the work of boards. Note: Jewish Federation of St. Louis has a membership and we are happy to help you purchase materials at the member rate.
• Blue Avocado: Current and creative articles about effective boards.
• Article by Jan Masaoka: On the model of individual contributions vs. board governance (2011).
• The Associated: (Baltimore Jewish Federation) This site has a list of board resources, with a number of the handouts from Board Source. We have their approval to share. Check their materials here.

Recommended Books for Boards and Community Leadership

Source: Twelve Principles of Governance That Power Exceptional Boards. Washington D.C.: BoardSource, 2005. Print.

Brafman, Ori, and Rom Brafman. Click: The Magic of Instant Connections – And How They Can Transform Our Work and Relationships. London: Virgin Books, 2011, Print.

Brown, Erica. Inspired Jewish Leadership: Practical Approaches to Building Strong Communities. Woodstock: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2009. Print.

Chait, Richard P. William P. Ryan, and Barbara E. Taylor (2011). Governance as Leadership: Reframing the Work of Nonprofit Boards. Hoboken: Wiley, 2011. Print.

Heath, Chip and Dan Heath. Switch: How to Change When Change is Hard. New York: Broadway Books. 2010. Print.

Heifetz, Ronald A. Leadership Without Easy Answers. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994. Print.

Ingram, Richard T. Ten Basic Responsibilities of Non-profit boards. Washington D.C.: BoardSource, 2003. Print.

Kouzes, James M. and Barry Z. Poser. The Leadership Challenge. 4th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006, Print.

Scott, Susan. Fierce leadership: A Bold Alternative to the Worst “Best Practices” of Business Today. New York: Crown Publishing, 2011. Print.

Shapiro, Stephen M. Best Practices are Stupid: 40 Ways to Out-Innovate the Competition, New York: Portfoloio, 2011. Print.

Sinek, Simon. Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t. New York: Portfolio, 2014. Print.

Trower, Cathy A. The Practitioner’s Guide to Governance as Leadership: Building High Performing Nonprofit Boards. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2013. Print.

Ted Talks

• Simon Sinek – “How Great Leaders Inspire Action”: One of the most popular Ted Talks of all time, 18 min. video Sinek outlines how to use “why” as the foundation for inspirational leadership.
• Simon Sinek – Remembering the Human part of Humanity – 12 min video that challenges us to engage more face-to-face in order to build trust.
• Seth Godin – (sethgodin.com) is the author of numerous books on marketing and one of his early Ted Talks highlights the importance of tribes and belonging.
• EliTalks.com – Inspired Jewish ideas based on the TedTalk model.

Looking for other resources to inspire and support your staff and volunteers? Contact Beth Gansky at 410-843-7497 or bgansky@acharai.org.