By Barb Kachelski, CAE
Graduation attire normally consists of a gown and mortarboard.
Richard C. Powers told attendees of last week’s Directors Leadership Institute: Governance about a student speaking at graduation who wore a less traditional outfit. Lead faculty for DLI: Governance at the University of Toronto Rotman School of Business and national academic director of the school’s directors education and governance essentials programs, Powers said the aforementioned student came to graduation dressed as the lion from the Wizard of Oz.
The point of the graduate’s costume, and his speech, was that in business, the graduates would need courage.
"How many times have you been the only one in the room who doesn’t get it, and figure, ‘They must know'"? Powers asked the directors in attendance. “You have to have the courage to ask those questions.”
We’ve all been tempted to be the pre-Dorothy Cowardly Lion. How can credit union leaders set the stage so directors behave like the lion after he received the “medal” of courage?
Barb Kachelski, CAE, is CUES' SVP/chief operating officer.
Read more on governance from Credit Union Management magazine and from the Center for Credit Union Board Excellence.
Also check out CUES' Self-Asessment for Credit Union Boards.
