“Is there a way to change your org into a unit of movement capacity and momentum?”
That was the question posed by CompassPoint CEO Jeanne Bell when my article about “Organizations vs Movements” was posted at Stanford Social Innovation Review.
As our own board at Creating the Future will continue its inquiry into this very issue at its November 5th meeting, I’ve invited Jeanne to join me for an hour, the week before that meeting, to talk about CompassPoint’s efforts to be the movement they want to see.
If you have ever wondered whether there is a more effective way to organize for social change…
- If you have ever asked, “Is there a reason boards have to operate like this?”…
- If you have ever looked at the power dynamics you are seeking to change and noticed, “Wow – we have similar power dynamics right here in our organization!”…
LISTEN TO THE MEETING HERE
or Download the MP3
(To download to your hard drive, right-click {or click and hold on a Mac} on the link above and select “Save Target As”.. or “Save Link as”… depending on your browser)
Video Podcast interview with Jeanne Bell, CEO of CompassPoint
Monday, October 26th
9am Pacific time / 12noon Eastern time
To join the conversation, just tweet to the hashtag #CTFuture.
For a summary to date of the months-long discussion Creating the Future’s board has had about this issue, head here.
Jeanne Bell, MNA is the CEO of CompassPoint Nonprofit Services – a national, nonprofit leadership and strategy practice that “intensifies the impact of nonprofit leaders, organizations, and networks as we achieve social equity together.”
I was reflecting on the issue of spending a lot of my Executive Director time preparing my Board to make informed decisions. I look at that as a chance for me to drill down on the key issues myself, and figure out the implications, and then prepare myself to come into a Board meeting from an attitude of being honestly not yet sure what the best decision is. Sometimes that’s a mental trick, because it’s hard for me not to have a strong opinion, but even if I think I know the best option, I’m still open to having the Board help me see sides of an issue I might not have thought about.
I’m not necessarily wanting the Board to lead ME (ie tell me what to do), but I am interested in sharing my leadership role with them, especially in terms of a venue to discuss whether decisions (whether strategic or operations) are in line with our mission, vision and values.
There is so much to chew on Stacy, right? What would good look like for accomplishing the mission and bringing out the best in everyone? The fun is when we realize, as you are doing, that we don’t have to do things the way they’ve always been done. From there, it’s all possible! I’m just happy you’re sharing your experience with us as you go, so we can all learn together. Thank you for that! HG