Mike’s Monday Message: Key Points From My Opening Keynote

As you may know, both Birgit Smith Burton, AFP Global board chair, and I are soon concluding our time as AFP leaders – time really flies! 

With that in mind, we thought last week’s AFP LEAD (our annual leadership conference) would be the perfect opportunity to have a candid conversation about our working relationship and how the relationship between the CEO of a nonprofit, and the board chair, can contribute strongly to the success or failure of an organization. 

We took the stage on day one of AFP LEAD as the opening keynote, with a brief presentation, and plenty of time for Q+A. One of the main things we shared was the importance of trust, which for us is one of the most critical aspects of any relationship, whether it is between a board chair and CEO, or an employee and their supervisor. 

Here are a few of our tips for how to build that trust: 

• Find common ground: One of our common interests is her favorite football team, the Buffalo Bills. With Kevin Foyle, AFP’s immediate past board chair, our joint passion was, and still is, tennis. Finding something that you both have an interest in gives you a starting point, something that will help you get to know the individual outside of work, to see the human in them. Obviously, it goes without saying that it needs to be genuine. This is key as you start to build your relationship and build the trust that comes with getting to know someone on a personal level.
   
• Keep each other in the loop: Between my time as CEO of AFP, and my previous organization, I’ve worked with 11 different board chairs. Inevitably, each of them will have their preferences for how and when we communicate, so one of the first things I do when I start working with a new chair, is find out their communication preferences. I’ve had a weekly standing meeting with all of them, but between those meetings, Birgit and I, for example, communicate regularly via text. We’ve found that works for us, and allows me to share information quickly, as opposed to waiting until a standing meeting.
  
  I’ve learned during my time as CEO, that if there is bad news, it needs to be shared right away. It is easy to want to push it off, especially if your day is packed with meetings, but it is always better to be as open and honest as possible and include your chair in the conversation from the start, so you can work together as a team. This advice is applicable to any working relationship, even if you’re not a CEO. If there is something that your boss will need to know, coming to them early with the problem, and some suggested solutions, is much more productive than waiting until the situation escalates – and trust me when I say it will escalate.
  
  Communication is essential for building trust. As Birgit shared, there is nothing more destructive than hearing something from someone else, when your chair, CEO, boss, etc. should have been the one to tell you.
   
• Consider each other’s lived experiences: Going into my relationship with Birgit, I recognized that our lived experiences were very different, with me being a straight white man, and her being a Black woman. She shared openly that she wondered if I would be able to understand and be receptive to her point of view. I acknowledge that I come from a place of great privilege and so, in my journey to help and support, I am filled with humility and gratitude. This desire to give back is a large part of why I accepted this position in the first place - all of my interactions have been driven by a genuine interest in learning about experiences that I had not previously had any part in.
  
  Ultimately, our different backgrounds were a strength, as we learned from one another, and worked together to represent the entirety of our AFP community. Throughout our differences in opinion, and challenging conversations, we always shared the same goal, which was to do what was best for our members. This helped to keep egos in check and keep us united on behalf of the community we serve. 

With my retirement on the horizon, this was my last AFP LEAD conference, but we hope that you can join us next year for AFP LEAD 2025 in Atlanta. And in the meantime, registration is currently open for AFP ICON in Seattle, April 27-29. These in-person events are an amazing opportunity to connect with your community and learn from some of the best and brightest in the nonprofit space. 

And as always, please feel free to email me at mike.geiger@afpglobal.org or connect with me directly on X at @AFPMikeGeiger. I’d love to hear from you.