They Mean Well
When executive directors and board presidents talk to me
about their boards of directors, they often begin the conversation with, “they mean
well, but…” What follows is an array what they don’t do, what they say they
will do, that they aren’t engaged, that they don’t show up, and on and on. Every one of the particulars that follows the
but, regardless of what it is, reveals one hard fact: meaning well isn’t enough. In fact, meaning well can be downright
dangerous to a nonprofit. It all depends
upon the impetus Read more
The Golden Fleece Lives on
I don’t know if the late Senator William Proxmire and Thomas Szasz, MD, ever met, but they had a lot in common. Proxmire was a Democratic Senator (and Hill School graduate) from Wisconsin from 1957-1989. He’s perhaps best known as the creator of the Golden Fleece Award which he gave to government funded research projects that he thought were a waste, as they merely demonstrated what everyone already knew. Szasz is a psychiatrist and academic who long ago infuriated many of his colleagues in psychiatry Read more
