Olba has asked for your advice. She has been appointed to a government sector board to represent her local peoples in decision-making and resource allocation. The organisation has been constituted with legislation that mirrors many provisions of the corporations act. Directors are not paid but Olba is happy to gain experience and serve the community. The Minister appoints the board members and also a ‘facilitator’ to chair the board meetings. Olba resents the facilitator and knows that her colleagues on the board share her feelings. The government use this facilitator for a number of board and committee functions; she is well credentialed, politically well-connected, and somehow a ‘power behind the throne’ with several local organisations. The facilitator is paid a sitting fee and does not appear to carry the duties that are imposed upon directors under the legislation. She is also often late for the meetings, arrives without having read the papers beforehand, and, on one memorable occasion, got some way through the agenda before realising which board she was chairing. This appeared to be a major conflict of interest as it became obvious she was currently also chairing a board that competes with Olba’s board for funds. Olba has done some governance training and a lot of reading on the topic. She aspires to be a prominent and useful board member and a good ambassador for her people. The facilitator could cause an embarrassment that would thwart Olba’s aspirations. She is also, in Olba’s opinion, not performing well enough and possibly harming the organisation. What should Olba do?

Dishonest promotion leads to massive fine Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline will plead guilty and pay $3 billion to resolve federal criminal and civil inquiries arising from the company’s illegal promotion of some of its products, its failure to report safety data and alleged false price reporting, the Justice Department announced Monday. The company agreed to plead …

Every year thousands of change initiatives are undertaken globally in the form of reorganization, structural and procedural change, new product and service launches, and the setting of strategy, goals, and objectives. Yet, according to Harvard Business Review, and the experience of many of us, 70% of all change initiatives fail. The financial cost of failed …

Nagachandra is a director on the board of a not-for-profit company. The CEO has a board seat. This position was argued against by the former chairman but other board members prevailed saying that the CEO was firstly responsible and trustworthy and secondly more knowledgeable about the operations than any non-executive director could ever hope to …

Editor’s Note: If you don’t want to see an un-PC and offensive-to-women image that we didn’t create, don’t read further. Who left that guy in charge? It only makes sense, if you’re launching a new product at a major industry expo, you want a nice shot of it on Twitter. This is commonplace, and indeed …

Quality response is key The surging popularity of social reviews by customers, along with the increasing heed they are paid by those seeking to hire a contractor or make a purchase, makes responding to and resolving complaints a major priority. Many will be rational, some will be pure emotional venting, and yes, there will be …

With tears streaming down my face, I watched a young father from our church carry In His Hands the casket of his baby daughter. I held tight my two sons that were with me with at the funeral, feeling the immense sorrow that they must be feeling as parents who would never get to raise …

Search engines all have an algorithm that determines what the site is about, and which words (keywords) describe that. Generally, Search Engines place emphasis on the first 200 words, Headings, Subheads, bolded, italicized and underlined words.

Soon after arriving at the beautiful Johnson Lake Home (our retreat center) on Lake George in the northern woods of Minnesota, I felt drawn to go down to the lake. The stillness of the lake was breath-taking along with the reflection of the clouds and trees in the water. We were in awe that the …

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