Boulder is GREAT for Success! 10 Tips for Success on Boards
Lenny has had the great fortune both in Boulder since 1975, and before. He shares that distinction with so many of his fellow Boulderites, to have experienced significant successes throughout life. He suspects and believes that we can learn something about motivation and success by taking a moment to think about our past successes. He has examined some of his significant successes. Every organization has a board, and in some cases like the Colorado Bar Association, many boards. and shared a list of secrets to success in winning a chair position on a board, and in accomplishing something once you are part of the board in any capacity.
Success is glorious! Being All Aboard on a Board!
Among his list of successes, Lenny has talked captains of famous and otherwise large sailboats into letting him take the helm. He has sailed, so far, two America’s Cup Boats, all of the large schooners on Key West, ranging from 80′ to 110 feet, and carrying a LOT of sail.
One of Lenny’s successes goes back to Ohio University. The Vietnam protests were at their height. Lenny (the one with the army green jacket and the long hair) was addressing a rapt audience of about 3000 people. He was explaining to the fascinated crowd outside the main auditorium (where the Grateful Dead frequently played) why we should keep the school open instead of working to shut it down. He was politely educated by a “local” in Athens Ohio, the Northern most part of Appalachia. He learned that “red neck” is crude, rude, and insulting. Beyond being quoted in this blog he has not used the expression since. The picture was on 2 pages for the Ohio University Yearbook class of 1972 for the centerfold.
Ten Items to Show You How to Run A Board Meeting after explaining how to get elected to chair the board.
- The shortest path between two points IS the shortest path between two points. We can avoid choices which make the path more difficult simply by choosing less difficult paths to the same goal. Occam’s Razor refers to “the simplest answer is frequently the best answer. The easiest path might be the best path.
- Every journey, every task, every exploration, and anything else we choose to undertake begins with the first step. That is so obvious that it is brilliant. The brilliance of the suggestion is in its simplicity. It is a BFO Blinding Flash of the Obvious. If you are inclined to think in terms of basic physics, think of it in terms of momentum. “A body in motion tends to stay in motion, and a body at rest tends to stay at rest. Thank you Sir Isaac Newton! The mathematical expression of momentum demonstrates the mass and velocity determine momentum. So the larger the think you’re trying to move, the harder it is to get going. BUT once going it is harder to stop, and as it picks up speed, it becomes harder and harder to stop. The effort builds on itself!
- Newton’s Three Laws of Motion are incredibly useful in gaining a practical understanding the basics of how and why object tend to keep doing whatever they were doing. “A body at rest tends to say at rest. A body in motion tends to stay in motion.” That is so significant because the first step is all that is needed to overcome the momentum of being at rest, the momentum of not moving is as important as the momentum which refers to something that is already moving, and which takes some energy to speed up or to slow down. Objects act like they prefer to avoid change just like most people!
- A common element in the successes is contained in the cliche that merely showing up is key! If you don’t show up, you cannot succeed. If you do show up, you are immediately “in the running.” Show up and you are automatically a competitor. You are in the running because you chose to show up. How can you win if you are not in the running? How do you succeed if you don’t show up? AND showing up is frequently the easiest part of the challenge.
- Consider that even though the first step is in ways the easiest step, it can also be the hardest step. Emotionally uncommitted and overcome by the desire to avoid change, that first step can be daunting. BUT THAT IS AN ILLUSION! The first step may be hard in some ways, and in many other ways, it is the easiest step.
- Motivation is contagious! If you are motivated, you instill motivation and excitement in others by merely paying attention to #4 supra. That’s law-speak for above. It is more interesting in Latin! How do people know you are motivated, and that you are willing to share that motivation? Easy! You showed up. Everyone who showed up is already motivated, and has already overcome the momentum of staying still. Things that are still tend to remain still. That applies to no one who showed up, and additionally, for double benefit, the momentum of motion which you have chosen to initiate does not simply vanish! Things in motion tend to stay in motion.
- Want to chair a board? Show up for meetings. Lenny has chaired almost every board he was a member of. (Well, almost every one). It has not taken more than two to three years to become a member of the board, and then to be part of the leadership of the Board as secretary, treasurer, vice chair, and then chair. Just by showing up you have narrowed the field to perhaps a dozen people at the most. Of those dozen, perhaps six have any interest in getting on the track to becoming chair of the board. With four offices to fill initially, and six people with any interest in filling those seats, you’ve already almost won your seat just by showing up at the first meeting. Unbelievable? Perhaps. Truth? Absolutely!
- In an extreme case he has formed boards and then became the first chair of the new board by default. He was the leader in creating for example the Cannabis Law Section of the Colorado Bar Association. The Board was instantly popular! Lenny served as the first Chair, and no one else was seriously considered. Schooner out of Key West. One of several sailed by Lenny
- My secrets for running a board meeting.
- provide the minutes from the previous meeting in advance of the upcoming meeting. Last minute minutes are about useless.
- provide an agenda for the meeting, also in advance. By creating the agenda, you control the meeting and by default, control the efforts of the Board.
- Common practice is to have the final agenda item to be the scheduling of the next meeting of the Board. WRONG! That is always my first agenda item. By the end of the meeting, people will have left. When the time and date and location of the next meeting is set, of course we want the most members present for each meeting as we can get. This also falls into the category of “quick hitters.” These are agenda items that need attention, and which can produce significant results with little time and effort invested. Those get done right away and are placed early in the agenda.
- As secretary,take minutes by computer, and email the minutes to the entire Board immediately after the adjournment of the meeting. THEN, for the icing on the cake, send out the minutes and the agenda repeated again, just before the meeting. If the Board meets by zoom, then the link-invitation should be re-sent about an hour or two before the meeting. That puts the link for joining the meeting near the top of our email IN box, easiest to find when it is needed; right before the meeting. A Mission Statement is a Critical Part of Making a Board Effective and Efficient
- Finally, and most important, the Board must have a mission statement. While everyone at the first meeting might have an idea about why we are meeting, and a glimmer of what our primary goal might be, what about in a year or three? While the Mission Statement might be modified later as needed, it is essential as a starting point. Perhaps people can show up with a mission statement proposal, or even with part of a proposal so the Board has a starting point. Perhaps this is the agenda item immediately after the scheduling of the next meeting. Set a time limit on this item! If it is taking more than 15 minutes or so, it may be time to move on. That brings up another technique for running a board meeting. An option for any agenda item is to take the agenda item and add it to a future agenda, which might be the next regular meeting, or might be whatever is needed. For example, the Pres and the VP might work together to draft an initial mission statement, which the Board will then take as a starting point. That makes the “15-20 minutes” to finalize a mission statement an achievable goal.
- BONUS SUGGESTION: Become at least somewhat familiar with Robert’s Rules of Order. Knowing a little means you likely know more than anyone at the table. If someone knows Robert’s Rules better than you do, make them Parliamentarian and everyone can benefit from their strength with the Rules.
Schooner out of Key West. One of several sailed by Lenny
A Mission Statement is a Critical Part of Making a Board Effective and Efficient
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