The Boardroom Lexicon: I, Me, We, Us

What do astronauts, Tour de France cyclists, and great board members have in common?

I’m always looking for governance lessons—and I’ve recently noticed similar phrases—and values—from outer space and the inner circles of cycling teams. We could learn something from them.

This month, our nation celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. Were you on earth when the Apollo 11 spaceflight reached their destination? It was July 20, 1969 when Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on the Moon.

I’ve watched the documentary film, In the Shadow of the Moon, numerous times. (Read my review.) But this one value keeps popping up: We not Me. It was a stunning team effort. Some news reports indicated over 300,000 people had a part in Apollo 11’s success. The astronauts, especially, chose their words carefully: not me, not them, but us and we. “We did it.”

Over the last three weeks, I was up early many mornings to take in the sights, sounds, and heroics of the 2019 Tour de France. Stunning scenery and stunning teamwork! I’m not a cyclist—but I’m captivated by the teamwork and the strategy. So this year, through all 21 stages from Brussels to Paris (July 6-28), I also read the book, Tour de France for Dummies. One team has dominated in recent years (there’s that word again) and the youngest rider ever (just 22) earned the yellow jersey this year, due to the team effort.

So are the values of We and Us alive and well in your boardroom? Or are you on the board to help the CEO with her ministry? Words matter—and you can learn much about the value system of an organization, its CEO, and its board by listening: Lone Ranger Syndrome of the joy of teamwork? 

As Dan Busby thoughtfully observes in our book, More Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom: Effectiveness, Excellence, Elephants! (coming in September from ECFAPress):

“CEOs must pursue God and focus on abiding in Christ. A major warning sign is when a leader places self-interest ahead of the things of God and the needs of the ministry, evidenced in arrogant language and prideful behavior. 

You will often hear a spiritually healthy CEO say,
‘I serve as CEO,’ not ‘I am the CEO,’
—a subtle but profound indicator of their motivation."

BOARD DISCUSSION: At your next board meeting—listen. Does your boardroom lexicon honor God—and promote teamwork and the essence of leveraging everyone’s spiritual giftedness—or does the tone tilt toward Me rather than We?

MORE RESOURCES: Reid Lehman shares wisdom on this issue in his guest blog, “Serve with Humility and Experience God’s Presence: One board chair creates a holy moment for his CEO Search Committee,” based on chapter 9 in Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom: 40 Insights for Better Board Meetings (Second Edition), by Dan Busby and John Pearson.

INSPIRE YOUR BOARD! Inspire your board members to enrich their governance competencies at the ECFA Excellence in Governance Forums (eight cities, Fall 2019). 

The Board in the Boat, Part 1

With apologies to Daniel James Brown and his amazing bestseller, The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Question for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (click here to read my review), over the next few blogs I’ll be addressing strategy alignment with “The Board in the Boat.”

Imagine—if your board had the elegance, the unity, and the team harmony of a precision rowing crew, the world’s finest!

Here’s a keeper from pages 234-235 in The Boys in the Boat. Listen to the wisdom as Master Boatbuilder George Yeoman Pocock coaches Joe, a young rower with promise and dreams—but a nasty childhood:

“He suggested that Joe think of a well-rowed race as a symphony, and himself just one player in the orchestra. If one fellow in an orchestra was playing out of tune, or playing at a different tempo, the whole piece would naturally be ruined.

“That’s the way it was with rowing. What mattered more than how hard a man rowed was how well everything he did in the boat harmonized with what the other fellows were doing. And a man couldn’t harmonize with his crewmates unless he opened his heart to them. He had to care about his crew. It wasn’t just the rowing but his crewmates that he had to give himself up to, even if it meant getting his feelings hurt.

“Pocock paused and looked up at Joe. ‘If you don’t like some fellow in the boat, Joe, you have to learn to like him. It has to matter to you whether he wins the race, not just whether you do.’”

Then this clincher about trust:

“He told Joe to be careful not to miss his chance. He reminded him that he’d already learned to row past pain, past exhaustion, past the voice that told him it couldn’t be done. That meant he had an opportunity to do things most men would never have a chance to do. And he concluded with a remark that Joe would never forget.

“'Joe, when you really start trusting those other boys, you will feel a power at work within you that is far beyond anything you’ve ever imagined. Sometimes, you will feel as if you have rowed right off the planet and are rowing among the stars.’”

Board members—have you ever experienced a board meeting where the board was so highly engaged, all pulling in the same direction, praying in unity, trusting God for Kingdom outcomes, that you felt you could have rowed the board boat right off the planet?

QUESTION: Are your board members in sync with Proverbs 15:22 (Amplified Bible)? “Without consultation and wise advice, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they are established and succeed.” Or, are your board members pulling in different directions?