The Great Chair

The Great Chair speaks to a single issue—why board chairs are more important than ever for effective governance. This book tackles board leadership fundamentals, such as: • How effective board chairs engage colleagues to reach consensus, • How effective chairs lead the board so the board, in turn, fosters organizational effectiveness, • The trick to ensuring a focus on the highest priorities, • And—critically—how to build and sustain trust with the CEO and within the board. With nearly four decades of experience with the good, bad, and ugly of the board universe, Brian Hayward hones in on practical ways to develop the thinking and behaviour necessary for anyone taking this seat. Through real-life examples, and stories featuring Paul McCartney, Kalahari bushmen, Robert Maxwell, camels, Buddhist parables, and the Boeing 737 Max, readers will see how chairing a board requires leadership competency of its own (distinct from being a director). See what skills differentiate mediocre chairs from a truly great ones. The Great Chair has take-home value—with practical checklists you can use—and a personal development roadmap for you to develop the key skills central to effectively engaging individuals and groups. If you are on a personal journey that may include becoming a board chair—whether the organization exists for profit, and whether it is corporate, family, venture, public agency, or charity in form—The Great Chair was written for you.

From the Caldecott Medal-winning author of The Snowy Day, Ezra Jack Keats, Peter's Chair is a picture book classic about a sibling rivalry. Peter, the hero of many of Ezra Jack Keats' award-winning books, has a new baby sister. When she arrives, his parents paint his old baby furniture pink for the new baby. There's only one thing they haven't painted yet, though: his little blue chair. He'll do whatever it takes to save it—even run away! This is a gentle and reassuring story about sibling rivalry and a perfect gift for any family expecting a new baby.

This is the most useful book ever developed to help anyone run a great meeting. It can be read in an hour or two and used for years. Rules for both Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised and American Institute of Parliamentarians Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure are included. The table of contents makes it easy to find information quickly. There are two sections: Meetings Explained and Motions Explained. Meetings Explained walks you through a meeting from call to order to adourn. Motions Explained gives virtually every motion that can come up in a meeting, arranged by its purpose rather than by its parliamentary classification. This information can be applied to any type of meeting from the smallest board or committee to the largest house of delegates. A Great Meeting Needs a Great Chair is the closest thing you’ll find to a magic gavel.

A fantastically funny rhyming picture book, from the bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator, Ross Collins. Poor Mouse! A bear has settled in his favourite chair and that chair just isn't big enough for two. Mouse tries all kinds of tactics to shift Bear but nothing works and tired old Mouse eventually gives up. Once Mouse has gone, however, that cheeky Bear just gets up and walks home! How dare he? But what's that? Is that a MOUSE in Bear's HOUSE?! A hilariously funny family story to share at bedtime, or any time, to make children (and parents!) laugh out loud. Winner of the Amnesty CILIP Honour 2016 and shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal 2016. Look for the sequel, There's a Mouse in My House. This time, the tables are turned and Mouse is the very unwelcome guest who just won't leave! Can't get enough? Look out for more brilliant picture books by Ross Collins: This Zoo is Not for You, What Does an Anteater Eat?, and This is a Dog.

A blind boy tells of his warm relationship with his grandmother and the gift she left for him after her death.

A transcendent tale of a woman's self-discovery—the New York Times–bestselling second work of fiction by the author of The Secret Life of Bees and The Book of Longings Inside the church of a Benedictine monastery on Egret Island, just off the coast of South Carolina, resides a beautiful and mysterious chair ornately carved with mermaids and dedicated to a saint who, legend claims, was a mermaid before her conversion. When Jessie Sullivan is summoned home to the island to cope with her eccentric mother’s seemingly inexplicable behavior, she is living a conventional life with her husband, Hugh, a life “molded to the smallest space possible.” Jessie loves Hugh, but once on the island, she finds herself drawn to Brother Thomas, a monk about to take his final vows. Amid a rich community of unforgettable island women and the exotic beauty of marshlands, tidal creeks, and majestic egrets, Jessie grapples with the tension of desire and the struggle to deny it, with a freedom that feels overwhelmingly right, and with the immutable force of home and marriage. Is the power of the mermaid chair only a myth? Or will it alter the course of Jessie’s life? What happens will unlock the roots of her mother’s tormented past, but most of all, it will allow Jessie to discover selfhood and a place of belonging as she explores the thin line between the spiritual and the erotic.

A young girl notices that her grandfather is unhappy and thinks a new chair might cheer him up.