Sometimes It Takes a Two By Four

To paraphrase General Norman Schwarzkopf, one of America’s top war time leaders, When you’re dealing with very high ranking people, you have to get their attention. By virtue of their rank, they are used to having their own way and doing their own thing, and when it’s necessary to all work together on something, sometimes […]

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Running in Place

I spend a fair amount of time each week meeting with nonprofit leaders – both staff and board.  Invariably, I ask how well they think their board is performing and to what level they think the board is contributing to the success of the organization.  More often than not, I hear about problems the board […]

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Creating a Policy Focus for Your Board

Consultants who write about the best practices for boards of directors highlight the three primary areas where boards should focus their attention:  vision and strategy, policy determination, and oversight.  In my experience, the hardest of these for boards to actually handle is determining policy and maintaining a policy focus. A few years back when I […]

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Preserving the Social Sector

Last month I wrote that I was worried about the future of the social sector and provided some of the reasons why.   Since I wrote that article, I have heard several different speakers voice some of the same concerns and read a couple of different articles that sounded a similar warning.   But the important […]

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Thinking About the Future of Society

I care about the quality of life in America and in our communities, and I am concerned about the future of our society as we know it today.  And yes, I know that’s a huge topic, and I am certainly not going to try to condense a graduate level course into one short article.   So […]

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