SUMMER READING: Corporate Concinnity in the Boardroom
con·cin·ni·ty
/k?n?sin?d?/
noun
the skillful and harmonious arrangement or fitting together of the different parts of something.
By Steven Sacks
Every so often I come across a business book that addresses an ongoing organization challenge in a thoughtful, practical and effective manner. This is what I discovered when reading “Corporate Concinnity in the Boardroom” by Nancy Falls.
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The title does not limit the book’s scope; the treatment of the topic applies to boards in the public, private, not-for-profit and academic sectors.
The concept of “concinnity,” a 16th-century term, means a harmonious fitting of diverse elements, such as people, systems and processes, in order to balance the varied needs of multiple shareholders.
Falls, who is CEO and founder of The Concinnity Company, introduces the reader to a New Framework for Governing, easily digestible and logically constructed, and shares her 30 years of experience in consulting to boards and C-Suite executives with the goal of ensuring that the governance model creates an environment of alignment. This can be achieved through the understanding of roles and responsibilities of the board and organization leadership, the elimination of personal agendas and establishing, as she puts it, “Shared starting blocks, shared finished lines.”
Falls identifies nine necessary elements in the governance framework and adds a 10th: “cultivate wisdom,” which puts a capstone on the concept of concinnity.
Whether you address leadership and governance in the public or private sector, or function as a Fortune 500 CEO or a CPA firm managing partner, this book should be added to your must-read list. Refer to it regularly as a source for strategy development and implementation and most important, creating a culture of teamwork and shared values.
