Open Forum

John:  Your Trustee & Volunteer advice is very well presented.  It should especially be read by anyone contemplating a career in America's nonprofit sector.  Both your suggestions and warnings are excellent.  Most trustees I have worked with over the years have been supportive of staff and the CEO.  This has been the case at large and small museums.  However, whenever board members unilaterally took on jobs outside their abilities, purview, or scope of permission trouble resulted.  This was certainly the reason for unnecessary frequent CEO turnover at one museum where trustees pretty much did whatever they wanted regardless of obvious conflicts-of-interest and clear egotistical self-indulgence.  At a large mid-western historical society, non-employee pursuits were countenanced by other board members as long as the meddling didn't intrude on their area of involvement.  Employee input was immaterial.  The director of that organization was a master at protecting staff and managing a very Balkanized operation.  Museum boards of trustees are social structures.  These are people who select each other to serve.  They are friends, business associates, religious confreres, relatives, golfing buddies, garden club members, etc.  All the wise written materials regarding optimum governance behavior and duties have little effect in reality.  At best trustees can be terrific assets.  At worst they are all-knowing, all-seeing, omniscient beings for whom museum staff should be eternally grateful.  Perhaps it is time for some annual independent system of museum board evaluations to be tabulated and posted like restaurant reviews.

Regards,

Steve