by Tom Okarma | Nov 9, 2011 | Blog, Board Development, Governance, Leadership
Following up on my recent post about how boards fail, here are more thoughts on how boards can fall short of their responsibilities. Again, let me have your thoughts on these… Allowing personal agendas to trump focusing solely on the clients being served Not...
by Tom Okarma | Oct 25, 2011 | Blog, Board Development, Governance, Leadership, Strategic Planning
With a tip of the hat to a certain late night TV talk-show host, I have been thinking about what makes a board “good” or “bad” and have come up with a top twenty list that covers a lot of ground. I originally titled this article “Top Five”…then Top Ten…but had to go...
by Tom Okarma | Oct 5, 2011 | Blog, Board Development, Leadership, Strategic Planning
When I led a for-profit company, we used to talk about “creative friction”- a condition whereby people with different opinions on a particular topic were encouraged to voice their opinions and provide evidence to substantiate their positions. It was very helpful in...
by Tom Okarma | Jun 22, 2011 | Blog, Board Development, Leadership, Strategic Planning
I came across a very good book about executive searches for nonprofits recently. It is loaded with suggestions and observiation based on real life experience. The Perfect Search by Tommy Thomas could be a terrific resource for you if your nonprofit is about to launch...
by Tom Okarma | Jun 13, 2011 | Blog, Board Development, Governance, Leadership
It seems obvious to me that if you reward desirable behavior you will get more of it and if you don’t, performance will eventually level off and fewer people may go that proverbial “extra mile”. Complacency and an entitlement mentality can work its...
by Tom Okarma | Jun 6, 2011 | Blog, Board Development, Leadership
The margin of success is pretty thin these days, whether you are leading a for-profit company or a nonprofit organization. Makes no difference. So, anything you can do to improve your product, service, or effectiveness is critical. And, if your organization has...
