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Skills Needed for Effective Board Leadership

Susan Mogensen

November 23, 2021

Learn more by taking the Board EXCELerator – Candidate Edition.

Policy Governance: Six Benefits over the ‘Traditional’ Approach

Susan Mogensen

March 7, 2013

1. CEO and staff are empowered to do their jobs with confidence and creativity. For traditional boards, typically the CEO/staff make plans and decisions which they must present to the board for approval. Direction from the board is often unclear, incomplete, contradictory, or amounts to well-intentioned mircromanaging. Confusion frequently results when staff cannot distinguish between Continue reading →

Seven Beliefs About Boards I’d Like to Change

Susan Mogensen

April 4, 2011

Belief # 1: Boards exist to oversee management. Instead, consider: Boards exist to lead on behalf of owners. Belief #2: We improve governance by solving existing problems. Instead, consider: Governance excellence demands a holistic, systemic approach. Belief # 3: We need more of a certain type of person/identifiable group on boards. Instead, consider: All board Continue reading →

Seeking Diversity on Boards: Is it Enough?

Susan Mogensen

November 11, 2010

BoardSource just released its Nonprofit Governance Index 2010 which contains interesting data collected from surveys of hundreds of nonprofit executives and board members. One finding highlighted by BoardSource is widespread dissatisfaction from those surveyed regarding the degree of racial, ethnic and age diversity on nonprofit boards. My concern here is that people might think that Continue reading →