Are you afraid?
Are you afraid to do the right thing?
If so, you’re not alone.
There are many people, in fact, most who are.
That’s why we revere courage so greatly – there’s little of it around.
Why do you think that is?
Is it self-preservation? Is it fear of retaliation? Is it not knowing what is right and what is wrong? Is it “I don’t care. I want what I want”?
Non-Profit Board Member
When working with a non-profit as a board member as it is in business, not doing the right thing may have dire consequences as we have seen so often lately with Lehman Brothers, Andersen, Enron and a host of others. Most consequences are not so large as to hit the news and people being jailed for it, but many non-profits have been destroyed by it.
On a board, it’s not about the individual. It’s about the people who are being served by the philanthropic services provided to those in need.
Not doing the right thing in a non-profit means that people and animals go without – without medical help, without food, without shelter, without rescue and without, perhaps, a dream.
Accountability Means Courage
Accountability means forgetting about yourself and concentrating on the cause – what’s the point of the organization’s existence? Ask yourself: How may my action or inaction hurt or help that the cause?
Ego Politics
It’s a very deep issue and one that is easily forgotten in the “ego politics” which often ensue in a group of strangers trying to pull it together for the common good. They forget the common good.
