No Common Man
34 Comments
David H. Souter, 1939-2025 Photo: Wikimedia Commons When retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter died earlier this month, the nation lost a remarkable public servant – and a…
Read More Fresh Hell Served Daily
The writer Dorothy Parker had a unique way of answering the phone. Instead of saying hello, she would cry out, “What fresh hell is this?!” I think of that on…
Read More Goldilocks and the Three Boards
[Note: This is a slight updating of a post I did nine years ago. Alas, the content is still current!] As fairy tales go, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” is…
Read More The “Charity” of Elon Musk
Nobody who has followed Elon Musk’s rampage through the world of business, social media, and politics would be surprised to learn that his approach to charitable giving has been a…
Read More Board Member Casting Call
As we approach this year’s Academy Awards, I’ve been thinking about the best picture of 1957, director Sidney Lumet’s “12 Angry Men.” If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth watching.…
Read More The Who-bodies Blocking Donor-Advised Fund Reform
Our grandson Jack is a few weeks shy of turning three, but he’s extremely verbal and bright – or at least this doting grandfather thinks so. During our July family…
Read More What’s on the Agenda?
[Note: An edited version of this article appeared in Harvard Business Review on October 12, 2022.] If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it, well, a dozen times: “We almost never…
Read More The Rich (Organizations) Get Richer
The boarding school I attended recently announced a $25 million gift from one of its trustees. I don’t begrudge my alma mater its big gift. I’ll also note that the…
Read More Staff Salaries Matter
Everyone values the work that nonprofits do. But not everyone values the people at nonprofits who do the actual work. I’ve repeatedly encountered nonprofit boards that fail to invest appropriately…
Read More