Family firms remain the dominant corporate form in Europe and so your wise counsel on how they should meet the challenges of growth and of succession is internationally relevant. Equally, your analysis of how boards can improve their effectiveness is of universal application. I wholeheartedly applaud your advocacy of having a strong group of independent directors on the board. As you rightly say, it is a concept whose time has come.

If you mix broad reflected-on board and executive experience, omnivorous reading in economics, psychology, sociology and literature, deep wisdom, often subtle, always urbane wit, and uncommon wisdom, you get a book called Anchoring Points for Corporate Directors: Obeying the Unenforceable by Bob Mueller. He has enlightened all of us concerned with corporate governance through many writings for many years. This is his magnum opus. Even he will have difficulty topping this one.

Robert Mueller, the "Dean" of the corporate governance field, has done it again. His new book provides an up-to-date picture of what's right and what's wrong in America's boardrooms. The book is peppered with fascinating stories, many from the author's personal experiences. Whether read in its entirety or used as a reference, the book offers any director or director-to-be valuable insights not available elsewhere.