Called to Serve: No Board Detail Is Too Small (Index to 30 Blogs)

Finally!  This is the final post, No. 30, in a series of blogs featuring wisdom from the 91-page gem by Max De Pree, Called to Serve: Creating and Nurturing the Effective Volunteer Board. (Watch for my new theme next week.)

Max De Pree: “…my experience has convinced me that no detail is too small to consider carefully when it comes to thinking about the important work of nonprofit boards and the people who serve on them.”

Perhaps, if you’re read a few of my color commentaries on this exquisite book, you may have wondered why I ended up in the weeds (the excruciatingly mundane details) so often. Blame Max De Pree: “…no detail is too small to consider carefully…”

But it’s time to wrap this up. I’ve enjoyed writing these 30 blogs and I trust they have inspired you to read Called to Serve—and you have inspired other board members, CEOs, and senior team members to also read the book.

Poignantly, during this series, Max De Pree was blessed with his heavenly reward. See No. 24, “Called to Serve: Max’s Most Memorable Message (1924–2017).”

Below are the titles and links to all 30 posts. It was challenging to pick my favorite topic, but maybe it was No. 14, “There Are No Committee Statues!” What was your favorite—or most helpful insight from Max De Pree?

1. Introduction: What Will You Measure in 2017?

2. Called to Serve: Violence and Committee Meetings!

3. Called to Serve: Loyalty Is Never Sufficient

4. Called to Serve: Challenged With Measurable Work

5. Called to Serve: How to “Table” a Thank You

6. Called to Serve: Governance Through the Prism of the Agenda

7. Called to Serve: The Bell Curve of a Board Meeting

8. Called to Serve: No Reading Allowed!

9. Called to Serve: Death by Committee

10. Called to Serve: What's More Important Than Structure?

11. Called to Serve: Do Not Censor What the Board Receives

12. Called to Serve: Coherence With Corrals

13. Called to Serve: The Prospect Pipeline

14. Called to Serve: There Are No Committee Statues!

15. Called to Serve: SILENCE!

16. Called to Serve: Board Member Self-Measurements

17. Called to Serve: Be a Frantic Learner!

18. Called to Serve: If No Progress—Skip the “Progress Report!”

19. Called to Serve: The Phone-Book-Size Board Packet Syndrome

20. Called to Serve: Use White Space to Practice Hospitality

21. Called to Serve: When Your Organization Is Bleeding and Boring Board Members

22. Called to Serve: The Ten-Foot Pole Tension

23. Called to Serve: Board Meddling on Management’s Turf

24. Called to Serve: Max’s Most Memorable Message (1924–2017)

25. Called to Serve: What the Board Owes the CEO

26. Called to Serve: The Error of Leadership Indifference

27. Called to Serve: Give Space…But Plan Sparingly

28. Called to Serve: Don’t Neglect Your CEO’s Growth

29. Called to Serve: Goal No. 1—Keep Your CEO Alive!

30. Called to Serve: No Board Detail Is Too Small (Index to 30 Blogs)

P.S. Click here to read my original review of Called to Serve.

BOARD EXERCISE: Invite three board members to each pick one of these 30 board topics and give three-minute reports at your next board meeting. Then, in groups of two or three, ask each group to suggest an important “board detail” that, perhaps, you’ve overlooked or neglected in your recent meetings. Then, pray for the board’s effectiveness in the months ahead.

To order from Amazon, click on the title for: Called to Serve: Creating and Nurturing the Effective Volunteer Board, by Max De Pree (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company).