How to determine whether your organization is on track and moving in a healthy direction. As Nonprofit Board Directors, we are often faced with an onslaught of data and information at our board meetings. In addition, we have the ultimate responsibility and accountability for our organization’s actions -- we are the fiduciaries of the organization. Even those board members with the best of intentions have trouble Read More

"This is the LEAST of my worries right now." A number of years ago, I'd been working with a business to assess the risk impact of a technology process and determined we needed to tighten controls to prevent large dollar losses. But when the executive in charge heard the recommendations, he told his team to do nothing. Despite reports demonstrating a large potential financial exposure, the executive couldn't be Read More

  The first time I heard someone threaten to "put the fish on the table", I was in a meeting discussing a processing error that resulted in a million-dollar loss to the firm. The statement conjured up an image of a rotting fish in the middle of the conference table, no one able to look away. In effect, that's what my colleague wanted—for us to confront an uncomfortable truth about the risks to the Read More

  Wolves have figured prominently in fairy tails and fables throughout history and the run-down is generally the same: 1) There is a wolf encounter 2) Someone or something is sacrificed 3) The wolf is slaughtered. A pretty destructive narrative. Now, what if we were to change that story-line: 1) Wolf encounter never happens or is limited to a minor scuffle 2) Wolf goes home 3) Protagonist goes home. A less Read More