Serving on a board of directors is both fulfilling and challenging. Using your unique skills and expertise to support a cause you care deeply about can be very satisfying. Many people embrace the intellectual challenge of setting strategy and solving problems while working in a group with diverse viewpoints.

But there’s another challenge a board member might not think about: a position on the board carries personal risk. It comes from that fact that every organization has to have a real person behind it. In the eyes of the government, society, and the law, that “person” is the people on the board.

How board members reduce and manage that risk is by applying the rules of board governance.

North America has become a more litigious society, so it seems more likely than not that someone will sue at the slightest provocation. This doesn’t bode well if you don’t know the rules. But you don’t need to be a lawyer to save yourself, either.

These books and courses will give you with basics to protect yourself, delivered in a manner that is easy to understand and filled with tips and strategies you can use right away.