Principled Innovation LLC

The duty of imagination and innovation governance

July 30th, 2006

I obviously missed Alice Korngold’s article, “Developing Visionary Leaders” when it came out a few months ago because of my move, but I’m very glad that I discovered it last night while surfing the Web. Ms Korngold points out that “oversight…is not leadership.” This is a critical point that is often lost on association board members, many of whom appear to believe that their sole directorship responsibility is to ensure the financial stability of their non-profit enterprises. While the fundamental fiduciary duties of boards clearly are paramount, Ms. Korngold argues persuasively that non-profit boards of directors must do more than simply perform oversight:

Beyond the duties of care, loyalty, and obedience, there is, I suggest, a fourth board duty: the duty of imagination. It is imperative for boards to imagine the greater potential for the organizations they lead–to envision, create the strategic path, and provide the support for its achievement. This is leadership.

I find Ms. Korngold’s notion of the board’s duty of imagination incredibly compelling and a vital missing element of a broader idea I have been kicking around for quite awhile now: an innovation governance model for associations. After so many years working in the association community, I have clearly noted two things about governance in our organizations: 1) it is a constant source of preoccupation (and often aggravation) for CEOs and their boards and 2) none of the existing models of association governance integrates the absolute necessity of innovation for our organizations. We must take action to remedy both of these conditions.

At this point, I’m not prepared to go into details of my thinking on an innovation governance model for associations, but I do promise to post about it going forward. Indeed, I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve ever written about my interest in developing such a model, so I suppose I’m opening a new line of inquiry we can explore. I believe that such a model (and I’m using that term as a placeholder right now; it may be that we need a framework more than a model) will help us simplify the oversight component of governance work so that boards can devote more time, attention and energy to exercising the duty of imagination. If we can achieve this extremely worthwhile goal, the association community will be far stronger in the long run.

Entry Filed under: Principled Innovation Blog, What's New?, Social Media, Innovation, Associations, Extreme Makeover, The Association Innovator, Simplicity