In his article this morning, Inc.com journalist Justin Bariso highlighted Eagles’ Nick Foles’ team leadership style. During the post-game Press conference, Foles said “I think that the big thing that helped me was knowing that I didn’t have to be Superman. I have amazing teammates, amazing coaches around me and all I had to do was just go play as hard as I could and play for one another and play for those guys…”.
Bariso’s application of Foles’ comments to corporate leadership generally is also applicable to Association leadership in particular. Associations are administered, lead, by a team. Each team member has a role. The manager leads day to day by implementing the global policies set by the board. The vendors: legal, financial, engineering and trades are called upon as needed to counsel and make specific things happen.
Too often today, management services have been bid down to unrealistic rates. This leaves a leadership vacuum where a Board Member is compelled to step in as Superman/Wonderwoman, vendor expenses spiral as vendors struggle to fill the void, and the Membership loses its mind as things don’t get done in a timely manner. Associations are real corporations, intimately impacting their Members’ lives.
Board members should not be Superman or Wonderwoman running the day to day affairs. Instead, Management, suited to the task and paid its worth, should manage. Team is what it’s about and, with the right team, everybody wins. Justin Bariso’s article is available at Inc.com and Nick Foles’ post-game Press conference is available at Youtube.com.