When Women Lead.

• Author: Brownstein, Howard Brod

Directors are increasingly being called upon--and required by regulation, in some cases--to improve the diversity of their board composition. My unscientific analysis of the problem historically is that there's likely been some amount of bias involved, but it's mostly inertia. Boards just keep doing what they've always done: When they need a new director, board members ask, "Who do we know?" which is usually someone like themselves, hence the intransigent problem of lack of boardroom diversity.

Similarly, company leadership is still mostly populated by white males, although to a lesser degree than board composition, so board members may not have directly experienced leadership by women. However, if board members--especially the predominant white male majority --learned more about the leadership accomplishments of women, they might be less susceptible to the inertial forces of the past and able to think more broadly regarding board composition and identification of diverse candidates for their boards.

Julia Boorstin, CNBC's senior media and tech correspondent, has written a book that is quite valuable for board members in this respect. When Women Lead is an interesting and enjoyable read, one that is well-suited to help board members broaden their vision. This extends to women and minority board members as well, since many of them also may not have directly encountered women in leadership.

At CNBC, Boorstin reports and conducts CEO interviews and plays a key role on the network's bicoastal tech-focused program, TechCheck, delivering reporting, analysis and interviews around streaming, social media, and the convergence of media and technology. She created and launched the "CNBC Disruptor 50," which highlights the private companies that are challenging companies in established industries and thereby transforming the economy. She led a documentary on the future of television, Stay Tuned: The Future of TV, and helped to launch CNBC's "Closing the Gap" initiative, which covers the people and companies that are closing gender gaps. Previously, Boorstin was a writer and reporter at Fortune, and was a contributor to Street Life on CNN Headline News.

In providing extremely Interesting detail about how women leaders have succeeded, the author does not appear to be claiming that women as leaders are necessarily different from others. Rather, she is...