Thoughts about new leaders

Sep 06, 2009

Attending a recent Governance Matters panel on Young Leaders raised some issues for me about how we can best utilize this incredible new resource of potential board leaders.

The Resource

We are now experiencing the result of a confluence of several social trends that provide us with a vast source of new leadership for the nonprofit sector. A significant numbers of young (thirty-something) professionals are expressing interest in board service.

* 300 young executives signed up for information sessions on board membership sponsored by the corporate responsibility department of a financial services company
* Programs for young attorneys brought similar numbers
* The NYC United Way Linkages program had consistently filled three 35- member board training classes for the past four years. They increased to six classes this year and are planning more for next year

This upsurge seems related to a number of social factors:

* Involvement in community service in high school and college has shown this generation the personal satisfaction they can obtain from their ability to make social change
* The internet has provided new ways to mobilize resources
* The success of the Obama campaign, and before that the Dean campaign, taught them that they can affect significant social change.
* They have a horizontal approach to problem solving, being comfortable with reaching across disciplines and groups to find resources and solutions.
* There may also be a generational shift (yet again!) in where young people look for meaning in their lives

The Value

They are already having a significant impact on the boards they join:

* By their example, two financial professionals motivated an established board to increase its engagement in fundraising
* A CPA developed a vastly improved financial management system for a small entrepreneurial nonprofit
* A mergers and acquisitions professional developed a business plan that turned the budget of a large organization from a deficit to a surplus
* A mid level executive organized events to recruit volunteers for a service organization A marketing professional played a significant role in re-branding
* Two nonprofit professionals led a fairly senior board in replacing an ineffective and potentially damaging executive director

The Challenge

While many boards recognize that they need to recruit “younger” board members, there is a significant challenge that must be acknowledged-

Boards of Directors, like all voluntary social groups, are most comfortable in recruiting and incorporating peers.

Incorporating non-peers into social groups is a challenge that our society has faced with mixed success, attested to by the experiences of immigrants, women, people of color, people of diverse sexual orientation, etc.

Incorporating another generation is equally challenging. As a society, we tend to take a gradualist approach to allowing access to leadership to the next generation.

Incorporating young professionals directly as equals presents unique challenges. There is a general resistance to allowing equal access to leadership before they have “earned it”. This resistance is compounded by the fact that this generation, like every new generation, has different experiences, ways of solving problems and communicating.

Solutions

* Identify their interests. Do not assume that the issues that interest them are only those related to their professional background
* Do not look on them as if they were your children or junior associates. They are your peers.
* Seek out their ideas and support their innovations. Be willing to take risks
* Give them challenging and important responsibilities
* Allow them, when possible, to choose whom they would like to work with
* Provide clear expectations for board members and apply them equally
* Develop ways for board members to interact socially