Dilemmas, Dilemmas: Practical case studies for Company Directors
by Julie Garland McLellan
ISBN: 9781449921965, Publisher: Great Governance, USA, March 2010
Reviewed by: John Salisburyi
Developing Your Captive Director Personal Judgment Skills
(Editor's Note: A 'captive' director refers to a director of a wholly-owned subsidiary of another organisation. It is a term commonly used in the insurance industry, particularly in the United States of America.)
What are some of the issues you might face as a director of a captive insurance company? Here is a great read: Dilemmas, Dilemmas: Practical case studies for company directors!! This recent book written by Julie Garland McLellan presents a number of practical cases studies that will surely help directors practice and develop valuable personal judgments in dealing with a variety of situations that are likely to manifest themselves in the process of governance.
The author is a leading governance and boardroom expert from Australia.
The book contains twenty-two short case studies. Each case study is presented in a format that lays out the views of various experts, together with Julie's comments on each of the case studies. At the end of each case study the reader finds questions to develop their own response to the dilemma(s) presented.
None of the case studies presented in this book are taken from any captive insurance company. However, the issues described in the book are more than theoretical. A number can, and undoubtedly have, occurred in some captive insurers' boardroom environments. Among the issues addressed in the case studies are: conflicts of interest, conducting business outside of meetings, confidentiality, relationships between board and executives, director tenure, director duties, and more.
Being an effective captive Board member requires that a director not only have or develop broad knowledge about captive insurance company finance and operations, but also the talent to make personal judgments on issues where there is not one single 'right' answer.
The only criticism the reviewer has of the book is that the experts do not suggest to the reader that prior adoption of Board policy could have prevented or provided a prescribed resolution to some of the dilemmas.
If you currently serve on a Board, or ever plan to do so, this fine book will help develop your personal judgment before you need to use it. Enjoy!
i John Salisbury is President, Captive.com llc and a professional director.