HBS and NAACP: Productive Collaboration
Social Enterprise Newsletter, Winter 2000
Five years ago, executive misconduct catapulted the NAACP into crisis. Facing deep divisions in its board of directors and a barrage of negative media coverage, the Association dismissed its executive director and elected Myrlie Evers-Williams as the new chairman of the board. Jumping into action, Evers-Williams created a crisis management committee, recruited a new executive, and began a process of rebuilding the Association's image, capabilities, and unity. Strengthening the board and its governance processes proved key, and at the chairman's request, board member Nancy Lane (PMD 29, 1975) sought assistance from HBS. Professor James Austin, faculty chair of the Initiative on Social Enterprise, viewed this request as an opportunity to aid the nation's most prominent civil rights organization while at the same time furthering the School's research agenda. Three years later, both HBS and the NAACP have found the relationship to be a productive, mutually beneficial partnership.
NAACP board members have attended two retreats at HBS, with a third to be held this spring.
"HBS provided the NAACP the structure, guidance, and opportunity to conduct a much-needed reassessment," says current NAACP chairman Julian Bond, who has worked closely with the School since assuming the top post in spring of 1998. "Today's NAACP is stronger and more focused because of this relationship."
The seeds of the alliance were sown in 1997 when, as a first step, Austin and Senior Research Associate Elaine Backman wrote a case highlighting the unusual structure and inherent challenges of the NAACP's 64 member board. Austin, Backman, and Professor James Cash then assisted the board in carrying out a self-assessment.
In the spring of the following year, the School hosted its first retreat for board members, welcomed to the University by President Neil Rudenstine. The retreat focused on governance issues and data from a self-assessment study, with sessions on mission and strategy, governance structure, CEO/ board relations, and board development. HBS faculty members Kash Rangan, David Thomas, and Cash joined Austin and Backman in leading discussions of case studies related to challenges the NAACP faces. University Professor William Julius Wilson and Law Professor Christopher Edley shared their expertise and research with the board.
Last spring board members returned to HBS for a second retreat centering on strategy and based on research about the NAACP's position relative to other civil rights organizations. HBS faculty were joined by professors Richard Chait and James Honan, experts on board development from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Director of the W.E.B DuBois Institute for Afro-American Research, and University of Chicago Professor Michael Dawson. Members of the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center are now conducting a major survey of public opinion on the NAACP and on civil rights issues. A third retreat, to be held this spring, will continue the progress.
Lane, a vice president of government affairs at Johnson & Johnson and a member of the NAACP board since 1995, credits the retreats with improving the working relationships of board members. "Discussing cases gives us a sense that we are not the only organization struggling with certain issues," she notes. "We can step back and objectively review a wide range of solutions, many of which clearly apply to our work."
From the School's perspective, Austin notes that the partnership has provided "an opportunity for us to learn in-depth about the governance challenges of a national organization with a large and representational board, while at the same time providing collaboration that contributes to the board's development." In addition, the wide-reaching alliance demonstrates the power of tapping the larger expertise pool of the University. HBS has played the lead role but has enjoyed the enthusiastic collaboration and expertise of colleagues from other parts of Harvard.
Students also played an important role. Members of the HBS MBA Class of 1999 who participated in a Field Study on the NAACP (Rae Brathwaite, Tonicia Hampton, and James Jones) conducted an industry analysis in which they compared NAACP to other advocacy agencies; offered advice on technology; and prepared a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis of the organization. "We found its funding per activity to be lower than expected because the organization was involved in several programs. The board used our data to recommend a reallocation of funding to focus more on civil rights advocacy issues," said Hampton.
"We have been dazzled at the brilliance of the professors, staff, and students we've been privileged to work with," states Bond, noting that the organization looks forward to continued collaboration.