Good Governance:
Five Strategic Questions for Boards to Ask
(NAIS Strategic Questions Series)
Patrick F. Bassett, NAIS President
www.nais.org
Resources for Trustees:
• Our website: Trustees’ Guide (portal)
(http://www.nais.org/Articles/Pages/Trustees-
Guide.aspx?src=audience)
• Trustee Publications: Trustee Handbook; Trenbook2012-13; etc. at
the NAIS Online Bookstore (http://www.nais.org/Bookstore/Pages/default.aspx?src=box)
• eNewsletter: Savvy Trustee (http://www.nais.org/Magazines-Newsletters/Pages/default.aspx?src=submenu)
• Trustee Dashboard (“real time indicators” of condition of the
school) (http://www.nais.org/Search/Pages/Results.aspx?k=trustee%20dashboard)
• Strategic Questions Series (http://www.nais.org/Articles/Pages/Strategic-Questions-Postcard-Series.aspx)
Website - bottom
NAIS Website
Trendbook
Which do people in
academe prefer?
Cf. John Kotter
Does the board have
a management role
and a leadership
role?
Making Mistakes: www.despair.com
Recent & very public
breakdowns in governance?
“If you must err, err on the side
of….”
“Boards hire and … fire.”
Governance as Leadership
Patrick F. Bassett, NAIS President
NAIS Strategic Questions Series
Governance as Leadership…
The SAT Analogy:
Our board is to our
school
as
is to
.
Strategic Question #1 for Boards and Heads
Strategic Questions Series
Strategic Questions Series
Do you approach differences
with open–mindedness or
instinctive distrust and
judgment? “Think fast or
slow?”
Strategic Question #2 for Boards and Heads
Affordability
Affordability
What does your affordability
study tell you is the threshold for
full-pay for one child? Two
children? Your demographics
study tell you about trending in
the number of such families in
your locale?
Top 5% Incomes ($200K+): The X Factor
IMG Academy (FL)
Seeking profitable non-tuition sources of revenue the antidote to
skyrocketing tuitions. How do you “capitalize” on your three sources of
capital?”
Shattuck St. Mary’s (MN)
How Do You Build & Extend Your Brand?
Strategic Question #3 for Boards and Heads
Financial Aid Trends
Strategic Questions Series
What does your financial
aid profile look like?
Which social-economic
quintile in your locality
receives the plurality of
grants? What strategies
would you adopt to move
one way or the other on
the “Sophie’s Choice”
continuum?
MasterCard “Priceless Campaign”
“There are some things money can’t buy. For
everything else, there’s MasterCard.”
The Priceless campaign emphasizes MasterCard payment
cards as the best way to pay for “everything that matters.”
Your School’s “Priceless Campaign” Sticky
Message?
• School Tuition $26,000
• Books: $500
• Laptop: $2000
Your child jumping out of bed
excited to get to school: priceless
Faculty
Strategic Question
#4 for Boards and Heads
Faculty
What can you learn from the
talent recruitment strategy of
Finland & Teach for
America?
How do you retain talent in
the classroom?
How do you reward all-stars
within a culture suspicious
of “merit pay”?
Strategic Question #5 for Boards and Heads
Strategic Questions Series
Strategic Questions Series
What do the ubiquity and
convergence of smart
devices mean for the future
of teaching, learning, and
institutional communication
& fund-raising?
“The future of mobile is the future of everything.”
Drive-by QR
Code on
building in
Boulder, CO
What’s on Your Board’s Strategic Agenda?
Patrick F. Bassett, NAIS President