Strategic Planning in the Small Business

Unit 6

HO 6-5

OPINION

PRO

Do Board

of Directors

Really Help

Small

Businesses?

CON

Sooner

or later, every business

owner needs real,

honest, concerned

objective inputfrom people

who are not self-serving.

And the body

that is best designed

to deliver this help is

the boardof

directors.

Outside Boards

Can -and Do -Help

By Giving Direction,

Review, nd Support.

Leon A.

Danco,Ph. D.

PRO Author

of OutsideDirectors

in the Family Owned

Business and three

other books,

Dr.

Danco isthe founder

and CEO of the

Center for Family

Business in

Cleveland.

Founded

in 1962, the Center

was the first organization

that was

designed exclusively

to assist business

owners and their families.

Over the last

25 years, he has

helped hundreds of

businesses establish outside

Boards of

Directors.

One simple

fact is becoming increasingly

clear: No

business will survive

if it does not

(1)

learn to open itself

up to the many changes

occurring in our world,

(2) come to understand

those changes,

and (3) learn how

to use those changes

to its advantage.

Under

the right circumstances,

outside boards

of directors can play

a crucial role in

helping

private businesses

manage these changes.

sooner or later,

every business owner

needs

real, honest, concerned,

objective input from

people who are not

self-serving. And

the body

that

is best designed to

deliver this help is the

board of directors.

I qualify my

statement with the term

"under the right circumstances"

because

the board

is not

a panacea. Boards

can't solve every

problem for every business.

Over the

years,

however,

Danco, L.A. and
Ford, R.H. Do Boards
ofDirectors Really help
Small Businesses?. pp. 88-93
Reprinted with

permission of

Small Business Forum, Winter

1991/1992

388