10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Readable. Practical. Debunks entrenched dogma. Bravo!, October 12, 2001
This review is from: Board Recruitment and Orientation: A Step-by-Step, Common Sense Guide (Paperback)
When a book aims to be a practical and immediately useful workbook, I am a particularly tough customer -- especially with books dealing with any aspect of the all-important nonprofit board.
A truly useful book is one that is willing to guide us along a straight, down-to-earth path, even if that means debunking such entrenched dogma as "recruit board members for their wealth" and "let the CEO recruit the board." Hildy Gottlieb has not only written such a book, she has tackled one of the most neglected areas in today's nonprofit world: board recruitment. Bravo!
Gottlieb starts with a simple premise -- that the recruitment process is the oft-neglected key to building a powerful and dynamic board. She challenges us to "[t]hink of the worst board member [we've] ever known, and remember that someone actually recruited him." Hmm.
Look. I'm busy. You're busy. This workbook wastes no time, thankfully. It establishes the five-step process and efficiently marches through each one:
Step 1: Establishing Qualifications
Step 2: Board Member Job Description
Step 3: Identifying Prospects
Step 4: Application Process
Step 5: Preparing the New Board Member to Govern
The book gets us to work with pencil and paper by providing a worksheet to brainstorm the characteristics that board members must have. I like that. It is, after all, a WORKbook. But we're not left without guidance; Gottlieb gets us started with examples such as "[w]illingness to commit time for board meetings, committee meetings, planning sessions, special events," and "[w]illingness AND ability to add their expertise, time, resources when the need arises -- not already committed."
Before you say "duh, why do I need a book to tell me that?" it's amazing how many boards are populated by individuals who don't show up, or, when they do, provide little or nothing of real value, or, worse, actually work against the interests of the organization. This workbook shows how to avoid such board members and, further, how to identify and recruit the kind of board members that really move the organization forward. When it comes to board member recruitment, even the most basic points are too often overlooked, with dire consequences for the organization.
The book is not, however, a surface treatment. Gottlieb uses her considerable 10+ years as a nonprofit consultant, and that of her consulting-practice partner Demitri Petropolis, to drill down into the details when necessary. She strikes just the right balance between too little and too much. To keep things interesting, Gottlieb uses stories, checklists, forms and charts throughout.
Nor is it timid. Gottlieb debunks plenty of entrenched dogma about the board-member recruitment process -- even the idea of recruiting a board member because of wealth. Her willingness to supplant dogma with what her experience has taught is one reason this book is an important contribution to the nonprofit sector. I intend to cite it repeatedly in CharityChannel.com discussions whenever I see tired old dogma being asserted when what we need are experienced practitioners to tell it like it is. Gottlieb tells it like it is, fearlessly.
Priced as it is, there is no reason why this workbook should not be in the hands of every board or staff member who is responsible for recruiting. In fact, I'm going to make a gift of several copies to some of my nonprofit clients.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
easy, straight-forward workbook everyone seems to enjoy, May 5, 2003
This review is from: Board Recruitment and Orientation: A Step-by-Step, Common Sense Guide (Paperback)
This is a quick-read, fun to implement and deeply effective workbook - one which busy board members (and at least one executive director I know) seem to love. This workbook will be useful for anyone putting together any group of people to accomplish a task (yes, it works for committees too).
I loved the section asking three questions about criteria on who you want to serve: must have's, wouldn't it be nice to have's and the never in a million years category.
The workbook is fun to use (great conversation starter) and wastes no time. It's built for the real world - practical, effective - and indispensible. I may have to order another because it's so difficult to get back my copy when I lend it to
someone (which I often do)!
What a joy to spend money on a product which has such a tremendous return-on-investment. I haven't implemented every
chapter as yet, but I plan to - and can't wait to see the results!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Clear, Accessible, and Optimistic, October 18, 2005
This review is from: Board Recruitment and Orientation: A Step-by-Step, Common Sense Guide (Paperback)
One of the wonderful things about this book is its overwhelmingly optimistic perspective on the role a board and its members can play in a nonprofit organization. Hildy Gottlieb's positive attitude and enthusiasm for the role of nonprofits are evident throughout. Her charts and workbook pages are useful and open-ended, so that each organization can individualize the process. The book is a wonderful resource.
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