BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The board must determine the organization’s mission, set policy, and find and recruit the leadership to achieve that mission. Turnover in the executive suite is very high and the costs of selection failures are very high and rising. Most boards lack an effective selection system that properly defines the leadership required and objectively measures the talent of applicants.

The board also must monitor progress but is frequently the last to know about developing problems. Developing leadership information systems for itself is key to validating progress, spotting trends and developing early warnings for inevitable bumps in the road.

ISSUES

The Board of Directors is responsible for selecting senior officers, approving organizational mission and strategy, setting values and holding senior management accountable.

Certainly achieving the organization’s mission is the first desired result but dynasties distinguish themselves by maintaining systems and policies that assure continuous improvement and effective management succession in all circumstances.

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.
He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well."
Martin Luther King