Wealth Management

Voted #6 on Top 100 Family Business influencer on Wealth, Legacy, Finance and Investments: Jacoline Loewen My Amazon Authors' page Twitter:@ jacolineloewen Linkedin: Jacoline Loewen Profile

May 25, 2011

There are a number of similarities between for-profits and non-profits which make people with for-profit experience particularly helpful as board members. Marc J. Epstein of Rice University and F. Warren McFarlan of Harvard Business School have a new book on board work. They discuss the similarities of working on nonprofit and for-profit boards.
6 Key Similarities
  1. Both organizations can grow, transform, merge, or die. Success is not guaranteed for either type of organization, but requires sustained work.
  2. In both cases, cash is king. This for-profit focus is critical for a nonprofit board.
  3. In both settings, good management and leadership really matter. Delivery of service, motivating and inspiring staff, and conceiving of new directions for growth are all vitally important.
  4. Planning, budgeting, and measurement systems in are vital in both settings.
  5. Both types of organizations face the challenges of integrating subject matter specialists into a generalist framework.
  6. Both organizations add value to society. They just do it in different ways.

In short, there is much overlap between the skills needed and perspectives provided by leaders in the two types of organizations. This is a key reason why social enterprise courses have taken root in business schools and why, appropriately socialized, those with for-profit backgrounds can contribute so much to the nonprofit world.

1 comment:

Carrie said...

Hi Jacoline,

Can I contact you via email? I have a quick question I’d like to ask you. You can reach me at ctaaca@gmail.com.

Thanks!

Carrie Taaca
Higher Level Group / The Leadership & Influence Blog