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Does Your Board Need an Entrepreneur?

Board members tend to have lots of experience in at least one of these three areas: financial expertise, industry-specific knowledge, or operational management. Over the past couple of decades, though, companies have become more interested in diversifying their boardroom—both in race and gender as well as in expertise.

Today, you’ll find individuals with backgrounds in marketing, IT, and human resources in addition to the “classic” board member tracks.

The latest trend, however, is adding someone with an entrepreneurial background to your team of directors, and we’re big fans of this movement.

Here’s what an entrepreneur can bring to the table:

A focus on long-term, strategic thinking

Boards are constantly being pulled between short term goal-oriented oversight and long term, strategically focused planning. Entrepreneurs are generally going to default to strategic thinking and will help pull your board out of conversations that should be left to your company’s C-suite.
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Navigating Corporate Bankruptcy on a Board of Directors

corporate bankruptcy

Because board members have a financial duty to their shareholders, the time may come when an insolvent organization must consider the option of bankruptcy in order to protect those investors’ interests.

In many states, creditors are also designated as stakeholders and must be considered, too. Depending on the type of corporate bankruptcy that is filed, board members may continue to operate in their directorial positions.

As an organization approaches the position of insolvency, board members must consider the options in front of them. According to the Houston Chronicle, “Conducting a thorough financial review and seeking professional help are now the primary concerns.

Directors should avoid resigning because those who quit rather than engage themselves in the bankruptcy proceedings are generally viewed as being in derogation of duty.” In other words, board members shouldn’t jump ship during the company’s moment of greatest need.
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What Should You Do After Every Board Meeting?

Your latest board meeting has just ended, but that doesn’t mean your responsibilities are over until the next gathering. In fact, there are several tactics that should be employed after every single meeting to ensure that your board is functioning as effectively as possible.
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Send a post-meeting survey

Send a brief survey after meetings. This 3-5 question survey should ask directors to rate their experience of the board meeting.

Use this opportunity to determine whether board members feel that the agenda was adequately covered and if they have suggestions for future meetings.

It’s important to send the survey shortly after the meeting while the details are still fresh on directors’ minds. (A yearly, more in-depth survey is also a boardroom must.)

Distribute the meeting minutes

It’s important that board directors can quickly and easily review the meeting minutes for accuracy. Board software simplifies this process in a big way and encourages more involvement from directors. Create a clear process for editing the minutes, so board members can follow the time frame.
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How to Strategically Build a Board of Directors

build a board of directors

Outstanding board members certainly don’t grow on trees. In fact, finding the right group of business leaders to impact your organization for the better is a true challenge.

Not only must you consider individual fit and ability, but also how the group will work together. Here are some tips to help you tackle this undertaking in pursuit of exceptional corporate governance.

Think strategically about the organization of your board

Before you can expect directors to think strategically about your organization’s future, you need to think strategically about your board. First, take some time to consider what size board makes the most sense for your organization. Perhaps you’ve been operating with 7 members, but changing to 9 members makes sense for tactical reasons.

Don’t choose a number at random; be sure you can back up the decision with consideration and research. Next, update your board member job descriptions. Make sure that the expectations for directors are clear. You can’t anticipate success from anyone unless you’ve provided them with an outlook for their role.
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Why Boardrooms Need Great Marketing Leaders

Historically speaking, boardrooms have favored business leaders with backgrounds in business strategy and finance. As the technological landscape has progressed, though, they’ve also been eager to embrace individuals with vast experience in cyber risk.

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Marketing and communications professionals, however, have remained on the perimeter of boardroom involvement. But as news and PR cycles continue to grow more powerful, invasive, and easily accessible online, it’s high time for boardrooms to embrace their media-savvy peers as vital corporate leaders.

Just ask United Airlines. In the wake of their current PR nightmare (which involved dragging a man off one of their flights), their CEO released a statement that came across as tone deaf to many readers. Not to mention, United Airlines stock has dropped $1.4 billion in the wake of this crisis.

Combine this event with the recent confusion over two teens who weren’t allowed to fly wearing leggings, and you can bet that the United Airlines’ board isn’t having a very good couple of weeks.
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How-to Revive a Disengaged Board of Directors

Although boardrooms are filled with successful business leaders, they’re still comprised of human beings who will occasionally falter. General disengagement is one of the most common struggles that boards will face.
Business Team Meeting Strategy Marketing Cafe Concept

It’s not a death sentence, though. A disengaged board is not beyond repair!

In fact, here are some tips for reviving a disengaged board and getting on the path towards a high-functioning and involved leadership team.

Set clear goals

Many leaders are deadline-oriented and need extremely clear objectives in order to know how much effort they need to exert to meet or surpass expectations. Don’t be afraid to set high goals, so your board members feel the push to excel.
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How to Create Better Board Agendas

Better Board AgendasThe agenda and the board book have been the centerpieces of board meetings for decades. While the board book provides important information and reporting, the agenda acts as the guide for the course of the board meeting.

It may seem like nothing more than a simple list, but the agenda wields serious influence over a board meeting’s progression.

You’re probably thinking, how can a basic list be improved? But we’re here to say that it can be done!

Does this agenda item involve everyone?

This may seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how often boards include agenda items that should actually be discussed in smaller committees or one-on-one outside of the board meeting. Boardroom time should be focused on group-oriented tasks and decision-making in order to get the most collaborative value out of your gathering.

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Technology and Nonprofit Boards: 3 Ways Tech Can Move You Forward

nonprofit boards invest technologyNonprofit organizations are notorious for being slow to adopt new technology. For many, it’s simply because they operate on a hand-to-mouth budget with very little room for extra spending.

For others, it’s a determined commitment to keeping overhead costs low. In the meantime, though, useful advances in technology are presenting more and more opportunities for nonprofits to grow and to thrive. It’s important that nonprofit board members be the driving force behind making these changes.

Here are some reasons why we think your organization should take the plunge and invest in its technological infrastructure.

  1. Spending money helps raise money

Yes, we’ve put a slight spin on an old adage, but we think that it’s an apt one in this instance! We know that in the nonprofit realm there can be a potentially harmful attachment the ability to report astonishingly low overhead costs. Check out this article, which explains a phenomenon called “The Nonprofit Starvation Cycle.” The article reads, “In response to pressure from funders, nonprofits settle into a ‘low pay, make do, and do without’ culture…every aspect of an organization feels the pinch of this culture.”

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What’s the Worst Board Meeting Ever

Let’s be frank: not every board meeting is going to be a walk in the park. Sometimes, board meetings are tedious, contentious, and even directionless. Here’s a list of some things that can truly go wrong at the worst board meeting…plus tips for handling them if they do!
The Worst Board Meeting Ever

One or two members dominate the meeting

This is a common occurrence in boards that contain one or two big personalities. Unfortunately, those dominant members can derail a potentially effective board meeting by bulldozing over other opinions or making members fearful of sharing their views. In this instance, it’s important that the board chair steps in to ensure that all members are getting an equal opportunity to speak.

If the board chair isn’t able to step in, here are some ideas for dealing with a particularly strong personality in the boardroom.

The board chair can also address the issue with the member in question outside of the meeting. If the domineering member is the board chair, it’s important for other members to speak up in support of reevaluating the way the meeting is conducted; suggesting a stronger use of Robert’s Rules of Order might also help alleviate disputes.

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What Corporate Directors Can Learn From Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo has certainly had better years than 2016. If you’ve somehow missed the flood of news headlines, check out this summary article by The Week writer, Jeff Spross. The title alone—“The Mind-Blowing Stupidity of Wells Fargo”—should be enough to give any board member a shudder.
What Corporate Directors Can Learn From the Wells Fargo Fiasco

No director wants their organization to be the topic of a headline like that. The Wells Fargo PR disaster began with aggressive cross-selling tactics and the creation of hundreds of thousands of fraudulent bank accounts and credit lines.

These practices were implemented when lower level employees were met with impossible sales expectations and quotas.

When scandals like this occur, it’s important that leaders of the affected organization (as well as leaders of other major companies) take note of the failures and analyze ways they can be either confronted or avoided in the future. Here are some examples of learning opportunities for corporate directors who want to glean something from this downward spiraling situation.
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