A board’s most important task is to ask regularly if it is itself fit for purpose. That requires, above all, a deep sense of self-awareness and metacognition, a skillset no boards seem to be seeking actively in their search for new directors.
Small businesses need good governance for financial and social sustainability, but are not always able or willing to build governance capacity or brook independent challenge.
In the face of triggers and minor aggravations, we have a choice. We can feed the wolf or we can take a pause. Because the wolf you feed is the wolf that feeds on you.
The lack of experience holding board-keen people back is a real challenge. Advising inexperienced board-keen people to try and become charity board directors is not the answer.
When evaluating job offers, think of the role, the degrees of freedom, the culture. But real wealth will come if you know how to deliver real, positive and sustainable impact with all of these.