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Thoughts and perspectives on how organizations can achieve strong policy governance.


Organizational Culture: Open or Closed?
Culture in an organization is comprised of shared values, goals, norms and processes. One overarching theme uncovered in studying...


Twittering?…follow this!
Terrance Barkan asks: “Is ‘Social Media’ going to significantly change your organization?” Take the short 12-question survey! What do you...


Democracy is messy
Last night, President Obama said that democracy is messy. Democracy is messy. Governing boards represent democracy in action and the...


Governance is a new word to many
An acquaintance asked me yesterday what I do. “I work with board and executive leaders on a system of governance that helps them get rid...


Update to: Cooperation, collaboration, or coopetition…whatever works.
An update to what was written here. This group is still together but we’ve moved beyond Policy Governance to conceptualizing what it...

Lessons on Policy Governance® from The Little Red Hen
The Little Red Hen was an industrious little hen. From a few seeds, she had a vision of a beautifully golden, richly fragrant loaf of...


Would you buy 30-year-old technology?
The ad reads: “Car ‘phones. They’re no longer the privilege of the chosen few.” In 1982, I actually had one of these Vodaphone babies. I...


Corporate accountability – blah, blah, blah
This morning, The Xylem Group had a very interesting teleconference. We discussed the debates and dialogs going on over corporate...


Boards that add value are accountable for a healthy organizational future
When a board spends most of its time reviewing what happened in the past (e.g., monthly reports or budget reports), it is merely...


Policy Governance and Tone at the Top – When Nonprofits Fail
Nonprofits are failing at a high rate (e.g., Flanagan, 2012; Nonprofit Trends, 2014). Despite strategic planning and fund development,...

The disconnect between corporate leadership and employees
In the May 30, 2014 New York Times Sunday Review | Opinion, Schwartz and Porath discussed why Americans hate work. The authors cited a...


Accountability and nonprofit boards
Expectations of nonprofit boards – and of those who serve on them – are established by tradition and maintained by the status quo...


What is a worthy organization?
Strickland and Vaughn assert that integrity in an organization is built on foundational values, such as accountability. In a series of...


In theory...we should understand a lot about boards
But we don’t. Over 15 years ago Brown (2005, p. 317) concluded, "...much work remains to be done to establish the nature and...direction"...


What’s the Right Size for a Board?
A few governance consultant colleagues and I are experimenting with Blab. Blab is a terrific forum for group video broadcasting and live...
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