by Daria Steigman on May 4, 2009
I love boards. Not sawed lumber, though I imagine that comes in handy if you need to build shelter from the rain. But those management structures that are designed to provide guidance, oversight, and strategic direction to an organization.
I believe that all solopreneurs and small business owners should get some kind of board experience. I’ve served on (and ran) both my 270-unit condominium association board and that of the rather-large IABC chapter in the Baltimore-Washington region. I’m now serving on a business advisory board for a student-run group that initiates and implements micro-development projects in Washington, D.C.
The best boards are run like businesses; and, like any business, they offer an opportunity to gain valuable skills. Boards also challenge us to test our limits and reach beyond our comfort zones.
So here are six big benefits I gained from serving on boards:
- Financial management skills, including building and managing million-dollar-plus annual budgets.
- Contracting, including bidding out large projects.
- Personnel management, including hiring and firing, and dealing with a sexual harassment claim.
- Project management (large-scale construction and renovation projects).
- Teamwork, including learning how to build consensus.
- Leadership.
Next post I’ll talk about my secret board desires. But now I’d like to ask you: What have I left out? What skills and insights have you gained from serving on a board?
Tagged as:
Entrepreneurship,
IABC,
IABC/Washington,
Leadership
by Daria Steigman on April 1, 2009
Did GM’s CEO have to go?
There’s been a lot of discussion about the government’s move to replace Rick Wagoner as a precursor to any wholesale restructuring by the troubled automaker. My own opinion: He had to go. Reinventing a business is hard work, and it typically requires a leader who comes from outside and is prepared to make the tough decisions. Despite being one federal bailout away from bankruptcy, Wagoner and his team were 1) slow to recognize they had a big problem, and 2) unable to come up with a plan for moving forward.
Wagoner’s departure has also generated a lot of discussion about leadership, what it means and what it takes to be successful in the business world. The Washington Post asked a panel of academics, ex-politicians, and one labor leader to weigh in on the question: Is removing the top leader the best way to signal that dramatic change is imminent and inevitable?
Here’s a sample of what they had to say:
Noel Tichy–”Wagoner failed to make the judgment calls on people, strategy or in the crisis… The real challenge will be to find a transformational leader from outside GM. Otherwise, we will simply be getting a cultural clone.”
Paul Portney–”When things go even moderately well, it has been a handful of people…who benefited the most… Simple fairness requires, then, that when things go wrong, the responsibility ought to be borne by that same group of people.”
Andy Stern–”Accountability, sharing in the pain and gain, is a tried and true American value.”
Mickey Edwards–”Sometimes the problem is not with the failure of leadership at the top, but a failure of responsible leadership by those who undertake it to bring about a change… [Firing Wagoner will] send a message but it won’t immediately transform the assembly lines or panic suppliers and unions into concessions they don’t believe to be in their best interests or sustainable.”
Warren Bennis–”This isn’t like firing a coach after one bad season. This is the top leader who’s been losing every season of this decade.”
Read all their opinions here. Then come back and tell me what you think.
Tagged as:
Andy Stern,
Business,
General Motors,
GM,
Leadership,
Mickey Edwards,
Paul Portney,
Rick Wagoner,
Warren Bennis
by Daria Steigman on February 12, 2009
What would you do to reinvent business?
It didn’t take $18 billion in Wall Street rewards to corporate failure to realize that the way we do business has to change. The debris from our old models is littered across the U.S. and global economies. But what should 21st century companies look like?
A group of 35 academics, social commentators, management consultants, and CEOs took on the “what has to change” question at a meeting 12 months ago. From that, according to Gary Hamel, emerged 25 challenges for business. Some–such as redefining leadership and increasing trust–are pretty obvious. But others offer food for thought. The list includes expanding and exploiting diversity, breaking up with the status quo, and empowering renegades. It’s a fascinating starting point for a critical discussion.
What else should businesses do to restructure and thrive? What would you add to the agenda?
Tagged as:
Business,
Leadership,
Restructuring
by Daria Steigman on January 21, 2009
Like many people, I was impressed yesterday by how effectively the Obama transition team had worked behind the scenes to rebrand the U.S. government. By 12:02 p.m., the first tweets were showing up alerting people that whitehouse.gov now belonged to the new president.
I realize that every new adminstration, like a corporation after a merger, moves quickly to slap its name up on the door. But the Obama team has already gone one step further by setting up a blog, identifying the White House’s director of new media (Macon Phillips), and creating an opportunity for ordinary Americans to provide feedback.
Time will tell how effective President Obama and his team will be in creating a truly participatory process. Governing isn’t easy, and the mechanics of government can, at times, be unwieldy. On his Innovation Insights blog, Scott Anthony offers three lessons from the corporate world to guide government transformation: 1) you can’t just get better at what you’re already doing; 2) start small; and 3) invest in human capital.
In his inaugural address, the president said that the question “is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works.” If he can successfully harness 21st century tools to bring more voices to the fore, and to incorporate into policy our collective views, expertise, and experience, our nation will surely be better for it.
Tagged as:
Brand,
Leadership,
Obama
by Daria Steigman on December 18, 2008
Is health care reform on the horizon? I posed this question last month to Business Week Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler in the context of business cost pressures and growing unemployment. Here’s how I live tweeted his answer at the time:
On health care, Adler wonders whether Obama can take this on, or move incrementally instead to make small improvements.
1:33 PM Nov 12th from TwitterBerry
I didn’t agree with his assessment then, but I understood the reasoning. After all, the health care industry is big business, and those who’ve made a lot of money on the current system aren’t going to go gently into a brave new world. In the last month, however, I’ve become increasingly convinced that we might be seeing the perfect storm for wholesale reform.
1. Big business wants reform now. Health care costs are killing big companies, and they’re pushing for lower prices, better quality, and cost transparency. (Small businesses, in many cases, have already been priced out of providing health care benefits, forcing their employees into the ranks of the self-insured and uninsured in America.) Wal Mart’s $4 prescription program isn’t just smart marketing, it’s smart business.
2. As more people lose their jobs, the numbers of uninsured people will grow. This means new strains on already-strained state and local public health systems, and more people walking around unable to access the preventive care that offers an early warning system and saves big bucks down the road.
3. The uninsured won’t be among the ranks of the disenfranchised this time. The current economic displacement is hitting all regions of the country and all income levels.
A lot of people have been looking at different elements of the health care system and how to lower costs while driving better outcomes for patients. And more are putting their stakes down every day. The Institute of Medicine just yesterday released a list of 20 key indicators of the nation’s health and health care. Business Week has a fascinating piece in the current issue that explores the question: Why can’t health care be run like the retail sector?
The Bush administration committed $700 billion to bail out Wall Street, and the Obama team will likely request at least this much for its economic stimulus package. This means that for the first time in a long time we’ll be testing new ideas on a massive scale and finding out what works and what doesn’t. How can health care reform not be part of the mix?
I’ve lived and worked in Washington long enough to know that there are no perfect solutions. But we’ve got to try something new.
Tagged as:
Business,
economics,
Health care,
Leadership,
Reform
