Inspired Leadership

The Neuroscience of You and good decisions

By Ann Macfarlane / March 29, 2023 / Comments Off on The Neuroscience of You and good decisions
Book cover Chantel Prat The Neuroscience of You

I’ve been fascinated by Chantel Prat’s book, The Neuroscience of You. She does a great job making complex information about the brain accessible to a lay person like me. Up until now, scientific research has focused on how brains in general work. This book is different. It gives ideas, quizzes and exercises to estimate how…

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People don’t want to be wrong

By Ann Macfarlane / November 3, 2021 /

Do you have board members who are reluctant to use Robert’s Rules? Who decline offers of training or useful publications? I think it’s because people don’t want to be wrong, and they suspect that if they take up this complex system, they’ll find themselves to be wrong quite often. One city clerk has told me…

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“America will be”

By Ann Macfarlane / July 31, 2020 /

The current turmoil in our country over social justice issues isn’t the first time, of course, that people have grappled with inequality. August 4, 1789 was a landmark in the struggle to recognize all human beings as equally worthy. Representatives of all 3 “estates” were meeting in Versailles outside Paris—the clergy, the nobility, and the…

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View Better Meetings Advance Social Justice free webinar

By Ann Macfarlane / July 23, 2020 / Comments Off on View Better Meetings Advance Social Justice free webinar

Laura Morgan, a Black Parliamentarian from Chicago’s South Shore, kicks off this webinar by sharing her story of how she became a Professional Registered Parliamentarian. Then we go on to present 4 guidelines that allow every voice to be heard and all opinions to be considered. Social justice meetings deal with important issues that generate…

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Failure

By Ann Macfarlane / July 17, 2020 /

Guest post by Craig Freshley. We are big fans of Craig’s wisdom and are delighted to share this post with our readers. Visit Craig’s website for more superb tips on meetings and leadership. In principle, failure is an option. In fact, it is only through failure – the timeless evolutionary principle of trial and error…

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Message from a Black Parliamentarian

By Ann Macfarlane / June 30, 2020 /

Guest post by Laura Rabb Morgan, a Black Professional Registered Parliamentarian. Thank you Laura for sharing this important message with us. Laura tells her story on video in our free webinar, “Better Meetings Advance Social Justice.” Dear Fellow Parliamentarians: As people around the world continue to come together to protest and demand an end to…

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What can a president do without the board? Thoughts on leadership

By Ann Macfarlane / June 17, 2020 / Comments Off on What can a president do without the board? Thoughts on leadership

  Several readers have written to me recently with questions about their authority as president of a nonprofit organization. It seems that Jurassic Parliament has been almost too successful at expounding the principle that during the meeting, the chair is the servant of the group, and the group is the final authority. These readers drew…

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Our worst selves

By Ann Macfarlane / May 15, 2020 /

  When I served on the board of the American Translators Association, a fellow board member drove me crazy. His blithe assumption of superiority and his ego were insufferable. Of course, it is a truism of psychology that a strong emotional reaction like that is linked to unresolved inner issues. When I looked at the…

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3 major pitfalls for nonprofit boards

By Ann Macfarlane / January 13, 2020 /

In my experience there are three major pitfalls that can affect the ability of a nonprofit board of directors to fulfill its duty and serve its organization. Pitfall 1 – lack of immediate feedback In many cases, nonprofit boards are dealing with matters whose results will occur sometime in the future—next month, next year, or…

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David Hamburg RIP “War is not like the weather”

By Ann Macfarlane / May 24, 2019 / Comments Off on David Hamburg RIP “War is not like the weather”
Photo of David Hamburg

In 1975, my late husband Lew Macfarlane spent months in Tanzania working to free Stanford students who had been kidnapped by rebel forces.

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