When a book aims to be a practical and immediately useful workbook, I am a particularly tough customer — especially with books dealing with any aspect of the all-important nonprofit board.

A truly useful book is one that is willing to guide us along a straight, down-to-earth path, even if that means debunking such entrenched dogma as "let the CEO recruit the board." Hildy Gottlieb has not only written such a book, she has tackled one of the most neglected areas in today's nonprofit world: board recruitment. Bravo!

Gottlieb starts with a simple premise — that the recruitment process is the oft-neglected key to building a powerful and dynamic board. She challenges us to "[t]hink of the worst board member [we've] ever known, and remember that someone actually recruited him." Hmm. The worst board member I've ever known is now the object of a law suit by the nonprofit organization on whose board he served. I know because I'm serving as legal counsel. Come to think of it, whoever recruited him could certainly have benefited from this book, had it been available. Timing is everything, isn't it?

Look. I'm busy. You're busy. This workbook wastes no time, thankfully. It establishes the five-step process and efficiently marches through each one:

Step 1: Establishing Qualifications
 Step 2: Board Member Job Description
 Step 3: Identifying Prospects
 Step 4: Application Process
 Step 5: Preparing the New Board Member to Govern

The book gets us to work with pencil and paper by providing a worksheet to brainstorm the characteristics that board members must have. I like that. It is, after all, a WORKbook. But we're not left without guidance; Gottlieb gets us started with examples such as "[w]illingness to commit time for board meetings, committee meetings, planning sessions, special events," and "[w]illingness AND ability to add their expertise, time, resources when the need arises — not already committed."

Before you say, "But, Steve, why do I need a book to tell me that?" think about the boards you know of that are populated by individuals who don't show up, or, when they do, provide little or nothing of real value, or, worse, actually work against the interests of the organization. This workbook shows how to avoid such board members and, further, how to identify and recruit the kind of board members that really move the organization forward. When it comes to board member recruitment, even the most basic points are too often overlooked, with dire consequences for the organization.

The book is not a surface treatment, however. Gottlieb uses her considerable 10+ years as a nonprofit consultant, as well as that of her consulting-practice partner Demitri Petropolis, to drill down into the details when necessary. She strikes just the right balance between too little and too much. To keep things interesting, she uses stories, checklists, forms, and charts throughout. But don't just take my word for it; see for yourself. Gottlieb provides the entire first chapter of her workbook for free on her Web site: http://www.help4nonprofits.com/BoardRecruitingBookChapter.htm.

Nor is it timid. Gottlieb debunks plenty of entrenched dogma about the board-member recruitment process — even the idea of recruiting a board member because of wealth. Her willingness to supplant dogma with what her experience has taught is one reason this book is an important contribution to the nonprofit sector. I intend to cite it repeatedly in CharityChannel discussions whenever I see tired old dogma being asserted when what we need are experienced practitioners to tell it like it is. Gottlieb tells it like it is, fearlessly.

Priced at $17.95, there is no reason why this workbook should not be in the hands of every board or staff member who is responsible for recruiting. In fact, I'm going to make a gift of several copies to some of my nonprofit clients.

Here is the book's table of contents, which shows how Gottlieb has organized the chapters to tackle the five steps she recommends:

• Introduction
• Why a Strong Recruitment and Orientation Program is Important
• What This Book is About
• A Note About the Role of the Board
• How to Use this Book
• The 5 Step Process
• Someone Recruited Them - A STORY