A RECENT CONVERSATION ABOUT WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE for ongoing member communications at a nonprofit got me thinking about how boards can, often quite unintentionally, waste their CEO's talent and, in turn, the talent of bright, committed staff. Boards can waste their own talent, too, but that's the subject for the next post. In this conversation, some board members argued that it was the role of the board to review and approve every word the organization relayed to its membership. Others differentiated between "strategic" communications -- issue briefs, advocacy alerts, statements on future organizational directions, for example -- and "informational" communications, such as event promotion, volunteer or donor recognition, and activity recaps. Clearly, the substance of the communication seemed to be one (if not the ) determining factor in when the board would involve itself in message development and approval. However, we didn't get to that unde...