I have fortunately served on so many Boards in this sector and without a doubt the best ones are truly diverse. It is when you feel the creativity in the discussion; it’s when you are learning and thus it is when you are valuable and contributing to the success of the organisation. If there is a room full of allegedly super successful, top of their organisation sorts, then the discussion will often be limited to those types of life experiences.
Of course, there is a non-malicious corruption built into the system. Society and its commentators would lead us to believe that business (and government) knows best, especially those sector leaders. Sometimes they do. However, we all have our specialist areas of understanding – for some it is financial capital and for others it is social capital. The simple fact is that those in the Third Sector, are strangely considered to be third for a reason and thus need the brighter parts of the economy to assist them; a proposition that I fundamentally disagree with.
For example, often, when I propose having young people on a Board, I am met with a wall of arguments such as, not enough experience, not enough knowledge, will not know how to behave, will not understand the financials. However, they will usually bring a different perspective to the “here and now” and also have a handle on the future. And to be frank, I have met many very mature late teenagers and many immature sexagenarians. Age does not equate to maturity!
Sometimes, these people of position and seniority will tell the Charity Leadership Team of what they do at the mining company or the bank. Often their stories of how “we do it in the real world” is costly and an impossible consideration for a Charity. There is rarely the more thoughtful process of how these experiences can this be of assistance; instead it is used to reinforce the idea that you are still third.
We recently recruited 2 new NEDs to the Prospectus Board. They were appointed at the beginning of this year and have had to try and understand the company and deal with all that CV19 has thrown us. Nine months in and their contribution is great. They have suggested agenda item ideas and participate actively in discussions. What I can tell you is that they have never been the CEO of a major retailer or the Charity Board “Nirvana,” the CEO of a big Tech company! Nor have they managed a large part of the Civil Service. In fact, they are both very talented, thoughtful, bright and engaged people, who through their work and life experiences, ask great questions and are certainly enabling us to be better.
I was recently talking to the outgoing Chair of a Charity who was a person of status and had a great regard for position. On hearing of the brilliant appointment of his successor, he was clear that it should have been someone even more impressive than him! He wanted to recognise the name, someone with a title; he felt that the organisation needed that more than anything else!
Let’s start to properly understand the real importance of being a Charity Trustee and the benefit of engaged, bright people with some specialist knowledge. A team of people that know they will learn from participating around the table for the good of the clients of the organisation and not a handful of people that want to give something back (often at their discretion). We can have a few properly engaged “great and the good,” but let’s not limit our imagination to that or we will limit the wonderful charities that change the world.
David Gold, Prospectus Executive Chair
