Nonprofit Boardroom Elephants and the 'Nice Guy' Syndrome: A Complex Problem

A friend serving on a nonprofit board reported plans to resign from the board shortly due to the board's unwillingness to take critical actions necessary to help the organization grow. The board failed to take any action to remove a director who wasn't attending meetings and refused to resign. His term had another year, and the board had a bylaws obligation to remove him from the board. However, a majority of directors decided such action would hurt the director's feelings. They were unwittingly accepting the "nice-guy" approach.