Difficult conversations: Delivering unwelcome news to a board member
In this episode of The Beacon Podcast, Lighthouse Counsel Senior Consultant Carole Carter talks with fellow Senior Advisor Howard Cohen. They role-play a scenario where the board chair has to deliver the unfortunate news that the board member has not been chosen by the nominating committee for another term on the board. Then they offer takeaways to help real chairs navigate this and other tricky conversations.
About our guest
In addition to his role with Lighthouse Counsel, Howard is chancellor emeritus at Purdue University Northwest. His career in higher education spans more than 50 years. His areas of practice include strategic and academic planning, department chair leadership, leadership team development and organization structural transformation.
Howard has held academic appointments as a professor of philosophy and administrative appointments as department chair, program director, dean, provost and chancellor, serving at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Purdue University Northwest and SUNY Buffalo State.
He formerly was a senior associate and executive director of AASCU Consulting, a group that works primarily with public regional universities.
Howard’s teaching and research interests have focused on the areas of social philosophy and ethics, as he addresses questions related to the obligations of those in positions of authority who make decisions for others. He is the author of the books “Equal Rights for Children” and “Power and Restraint: The Moral Dimensions of Police Work” as well as “Leading Volunteers,” a Lighthouse Counsel resource to be published early in 2025.
