by Tom Okarma | Nov 29, 2011 | Blog, Leadership, Strategic Planning
I recently reread an excellent book written in 1995 and was struck by the timelessness of its subject matter. And, with the holidays approaching I thought it would serve as a terrific gift for someone you know who leads an organization: any size, any type, nonprofit,...
by Tom Okarma | Nov 16, 2011 | Blog, Governance, Leadership, Strategic Planning
No one can deny that planning is critical to success. While I personally thrive in an organizational culture of creativity and entrepreneurial thinking, eventually, if you want to get things done, you have to have a written plan. Still, planning can be very tedious...
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 13, 2011 | Blog, Leadership
I’ve got to hand it to Chicago Cubs owner Tom Rickets. He is about to land one of the biggest fish in the professional baseball world talent pool. I’m talking about Theo Epstein, the current and about to be former, general manager of the Boston Red Sox. There is a...
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...
