Mary Hiland - Love Your Board!: The Executive Directors Guide to Discovering the Sources of Nonprofit Board Troubles and What to Do About Them

What Others Are Saying...

Over three decades as a nonprofit chief executive, few things have been more critical to success than that of a well-functioning and strategically powerful board. Too often, a board of directors has challenges that can only be resolved by doing the hard work of identifying and then solving its weaknesses. Mary Hiland does a masterful job guiding the chief executive to help board members identify telltale symptoms and follow them to the problems root causes. Having taken this journey together, they are then guided along the path toward resolution.Love Your Board!is for any executive director/CEO who wants to help their board achieve its full potential.

Ted Hart, ACFRE, CAP | President and CEO, CAF America

Marys book on governance should be read by every executive director and every board member. It covers everything from recruitment and on-boarding to resolving conflictand when it is time to cut the cord and let unproductive board members go. A well-running board is the one big difference between effective, successful nonprofits and those that wither and die, sometimes in their prime. This book will help your board become the well-honed machine that drives success for your nonprofit.

Linda Lysakowski, ACFRE | Author and Consultant

Mary Hiland hits it out of the park withLove Your Board!She takes you into real-life board issues with all their messy uniqueness. Its a must-read for any nonprofit executive director and a resource I wish I had when I sat in the corner office.

Joanne Oppelt | Author, Trainer, Consultant, and Growth CoachLove your board? Really? Is it possible? It sure is. Just ask Mary Hiland. In this remarkable book, Mary brings her wealth of experience and practical insights to a very real problem thats vexed nearly every executive director: how to work with your board. Even if youre not an ED, youre sure to learn from her real-life stories and actionable advice based on her twenty-plus years of coaching and consulting with nonprofits.

Matt Hugg | President and Founder, Nonprofit.Courses

I have known Mary Hiland for almost thirty years. Her experience as an executive director and as a consultant brings to light the real-life challenges of nonprofit executives. She has done the research, walked the path, trained hundreds of nonprofits in better governance, and highlights actionable steps toward maximizing your boards potential.Love Your Board!provides a wealth of invaluable knowledge.

Patricia Gardner | Former CEO, Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits | PAG Leadership Consulting

I love this book! It is easy to follow, warm, and congenial. It is evidence-based, and the examples illustrate and move the reader through the processes Mary recommends. The tree metaphor made the book feel like the advice and information given is organic and could become part of the fabric of an organization. I highly recommend it to all executive directors.

Maria Nicolacoudis | CEO, Hearts & Minds Activity Center

Reading this wonderfully supportive, practical, and reflective book will give you the tools you need to help your board overcome its deficiencies and unlock its potential to lead your nonprofit organization brilliantly.Love Your Board!is a must-read for all nonprofit executives, no matter how long in your leadership role.

Christine Duncan | CEO, YWCA Monterey CountyThe most common challenge I hear from both first-time and longterm executive directors is how to engage their board to do, well, MORE! If youve had this same thought, Mary Hiland is the perfect person to guide you through the step-by-step, comprehensive journey you can and should take. Marys vast and extensive experience jumps off every page of this book. Ill encourage every one of my clients to readLove Your Board!so they can glean such valuable information from an industry legend like Mary Hiland!

Sherry Quam Taylor | CEO of QuamTaylor LLC

Im a former executive director, and readingLove Your Board!changed my perceptions about boards. Mary gives a well-researched and clearly written view of the role of the board in nonprofit organizations. The Capacity/Connection/Culture framework made complex ideas easy to understand. Applying the framework, sharing real-life stories to illustrate it, and giving practical strategies for working through a myriad of board challenges make this book required reading for executive directors.

Dee Wischmann, Executive Coach | Former President & CEO, Catholic Charities Silicon Valley

The governing board for a nonprofit organization can make or break an organizations success. Mary writes from her deep experience in the nonprofit sector. She focuses on helping the executive director get to the root causes of a boards failure to reach its potential and then giving the executive director the techniques to help the board overcome whatever is holding it back. I especially appreciated Marys identification of the three critical factors for successful board development: the use by the executive director of the nudge to take the board to the next level, the need for intentionality, and the focus on the indispensable role of the boards chair. I recommend Marys book for all nonprofit leaders and board members.

Dr. Rob Harter | Executive Director, Christian Center of Park City | Founder and Host of The Nonprofit Leadership Podcast

Marys book is an incredible resource for executive directors. By breaking board improvement into either capacity, connections, or culture and providing case studies, Mary provides clear, actionable steps for proactively responding to any need an executive director might face in working with their board. This is a book to read once and then go back to regularly as different situations arise.

Shawn Gerth | Executive Director, Educare California at Silicon Valley

When plenty of books on nonprofit boards seem to be every bit as complex as their subject, Mary Hiland shows her mastery by taking the opposite approach: she uses simple stories and explanations to help us understand the root causes of nonprofit board dysfunctions and what executive directors can do to help their boards overcome them. I enthusiastically recommendLove Your Board!to my chief-executive peers who want to help their boards thrive.

Shake Sulikyan | President & Executive Director, ValleyCare Charitable Foundation

It is not productive to be right. It is productive to be clear. Unfortunately in this sector, we have gotten trapped into a must do menu for boards and executive directors rather than collaboratively working our way toward building trusting relationships, healthy culture, and intentional processes that enable our organizations to focus on achieving their intended purpose. This book is a stand-in for executive directors who cant have Mary working with them as a coach.

Gayle L. Gifford, ACFRE | President, Cause & Effect, Inc. | Author and Consultant