“Listen all the way around and be the last one to speak. The last words are many times the wisest words.”
-John Reynolds
When one interviews Dr. John Reynolds, the conversation could go in a number of directions. We could explore his early career as the Chief Information Officer at World Vision. We could explore his long distinguished career in higher education. And if we wanted a lesson in world geography and world culture, we could get Dr. Reynolds to share with us what he’s learned by traveling to more than 80 countries as he consults with national NGO leaders.
As interesting and informative as those conversations might be, today’s conversation with Dr. Reynolds will be about nonprofit boardsmanship.
Dr. John Reynolds currently serves on nonprofit boards in the United States, Canada, Australia, and South Africa. As I was thinking about guests for the podcast, Dr. Maggie Bailey—who in her own right is very knowledgeable on boardsmanship—told me, “John Reynolds is the foremost authority on nonprofit boardsmanship. He should be the first person you interview on this topic.”
I hope you learn as much as I did from my conversation with Dr. Reynolds. Please be sure to share this podcast with the nonprofit board members you know, particularly if they are new members to board service. They will find these conversations with Dr. John Reynolds very helpful in their journey to becoming an effective nonprofit board member.
“The first mission of the board is to ensure the vision, mission, and values of the organization are guarded.”
-John Reynolds
Time Stamps
[1:20] – An introduction to today’s guest, Dr. John Reynolds.
[2:40] – John talks about his first board and how it showed up.
[3:57] – What did John learn from Dr. Ted about board leadership?
[5:30] – John’s best strategy for staffing a board.
[8:08] – An example of how John looks to the future when staffing a board today.
[8:30] – What is the purpose of a nonprofit board?
[10:02] – John shares how he believes boards get their work done.
[12:10] – John finds that a lot of boards don’t utilize the premise of using outside board members on their committees.
[12:55] – The dangers of having functional committees, according to John.
[15:03] – What a board should and should not do for the organization.
[15:41] – John’s experience with The Carver Model for board governance.
[18:04] – The best thing a board can do for a new CEO.
[20:30] – Boards should set clear expectations, clear metrics and how they will be measured, and create the space for new CEOs to be successful.
[21:15] – John responds to my quote about good directors on the board.
[23:11] – The kinds of decisions boards need to consider about the CEO.
“Boards should govern, not manage.” -John Reynolds
Links and Resources
Los Angeles Pacific University
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