The importance of a CEO's relationship with their board

A breakdown in the board-CEO relationship can be existential for nonprofits. I've seen board dysfunction derail high-performing CEOs and their organisations (and have posted on LinkedIn recently about one prominent example).

And, of course, it can go the other way too - a CEO who is too dominant, or takes the board for granted, can damage the relationship beyond repair, to the detriment of the nonprofit and its mission.

So I was very pleased to join Stacy Palmer’s new podcast, Nonprofits Now: Leading Today, along with Kathleen St. Louis Caliento, PhD, MBA to discuss how leaders can work with their boards. The focus of the discussion was on fundraising and fiscal planning, but we covered the whole gamut of the board-CEO relationship.

One of my key pieces of advice is that there should be no surprises for the board. I shared examples of how I stay connected with the board in between meetings and how I keep them tapped into Freedom Fund’s mission. In fact we'll be hosting our board meeting next week in Indonesia, where board members will have the opportunity to meet with many of our outstanding frontline partners working in the region.

Many thanks to The Chronicle of Philanthropy for hosting this rich discussion.

And let's see what my board thinks of my take on the relationship...!

https://www.philanthropy.com/article/listen-now-two-ceos-on-how-to-get-boards-to-help-with-fundraising-and-more