Back when I was starting non-profits for a living, we discovered that two things were critical for success. First, we had to have the right leader. We looked for visionary people who were intrinsically motivated and had a high EQ, enabling them to get others to buy into their vision. When you think of visionary leaders, think of Martin Luther King Jr. on the Washington Mall imploring, “I Have a Dream,” or Ronald Reagan’s, “Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down that Wall!”

Good governance was the second key to success. People understood the importance of visionary leaders, but they often did not recognize the importance of good governance.

Good governance is a board that knows its job and sticks to it, and a staff that knows its job and sticks to it. The board’s job is figuring out what big issues need to be addressed. The staff’s job is to complete them. The primary conduit between the two is the board chair and the CEO. The CEO is held responsible by the board for completion of the tasks that have been assigned. It may not sound exciting, but it’s how stuff gets done. Everybody knows their lane and stays in it.

When I used to chair boards, and over the years I’ve chaired a boatload of them, the most important words I would say early in the life of board would be, “Not our job, that’s a staff job,” or “Not a staff job, that’s our job.” Clearly delineated responsibilities make for good governance.

As most of you know, I am running for Mayor of Lyons, Colorado in the April 7 election. I serve as Mayor Pro Tem now (vice-mayor for those of you outside of Colorado) and have served on the town Board of Trustrees for four years.

To put good governance into perspective for Lyons, Colorado, the board is our Board of Trustees; the Mayor is its chair. The board’s job is to figure out what big issues need to be addressed, like infrastructure, wildfire mitigation, economic vitality, and maintaining our quality of life. The CEO is the Town Administrator. The board works through the administrator to get the tasks done.

Staff members are responsible to the administrator, not to the board. The board does not bypass the administrator to direct the work of the staff. They do hold the administrator responsibile for adequately directing the staff. It’s not rocket science, but if you have not worked on many boards, board members can have a tendency to get down into the weeds. That’s not the board’s job. That’s the staff’s job.

Hollie Rogin has been a great mayor. I wish she were in a position to continue, but she is not. To the voters of Lyons I say, if you want that kind of governance to continue here, then vote for me. I will lead with civility, trust, a collaborative spirit, and good governance.

To my readers from around the nation and world, yep, you guessed it. I’ll be writing a few posts about the election over the next six weeks. You’ll see election-related information here when I believe the message of the post is helpful to all. Thank you for accommodating that short-term shift in this blog.

And so it goes.