Why Nonprofits Have a Board Problem

Plenty of distinguished people serve on nonprofit boards, but for some reason these directors shrink from leadership, argues Harvard professor Richard Chait. In this Q&A, Chait discusses his new book on how boards can transform into powerful forces of leadership.

Nonprofit boards are made up of the best and brightest—top business executives who are passionate about a cause, cultural icons, and dedicated philanthropists. With this caliber of people at the top of the governance structure, boards should be very influential in helping to lead the companies they govern. So why aren’t they?

In Governance as Leadership: Reframing the Work of Nonprofit Boards, Harvard professor Richard Chait, along with coauthors William Ryan and Barbara Taylor, argue that boards spend too much time on minutia and management issues, and not enough time on big-picture strategy and leadership concerns.

Are nonprofit boards recruiting the wrong members? Are power-hungry CEOs stealing the spotlight? In this interview, Chait discusses why nonprofit boards are failing, and how they can transform into powerful forces of leadership.

by Manda Salls

Full Story: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=4735&t=nonprofit&nl=y