May 4 2021

If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Yank Their Charter

National Governance    20 Comments    , , , ,

I’ll just leave this right here:

Update from National Board and CEO

Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) remains wholeheartedly committed to building girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. GSUSA issues charters to over 100 local Girl Scout councils to bring our powerful mission to life with Girl Scouts throughout the country. The charters and our Girl Scout governing documents in the Blue Book of Basic Documents provide rights and obligations for local councils. While the chartering process is an internal Girl Scout business matter, good governance is the foundation of our organization’s ability to deliver on our mission—helping girls realize their biggest dreams and full potential. As such, GSUSA takes this process very seriously and conducts a thorough annual review of each council’s adherence to its charter obligations.  
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April 21 2021

The Four Pillars Revisited

National Operations, Opinions    5 Comments    , , ,

This is a follow-up to my last post about revamping our program.   In it, I wrote:

Our program is based on four pillars – the Outdoors, STEM, Entrepreneurship, and Life Skills.  We should stick with those, but add Art into the mix too.  These five pillars should be the basis of our programming moving forward.

The current Four Pillars

A few days ago, I revisited these pillars.  I realized this whole time that I didn’t have the same definition of “Life Skills” that GSUSA has:  “By partaking in life skills programming, girls enhance the academic skills they learn in school through topics such as civic engagement, healthy living, communication skills, financial literacy, and global citizenship.”

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March 25 2021

A Skills-Based Program Reset Button

National Operations, Opinions    9 Comments    , , , ,

“Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, which is not nurturing to the whole woman.” — Maya Angelou

Unless you’ve been under a rock lately – a really big rock – we’re currently looking for a National CEO. Considering we’ve gone through three National CEOs in the past ten years, it goes without saying that we need to get this next hire right.  The incoming CEO will have a big job on her hands dealing with the fallout from a pandemic and the upheaval it’s brought.  But while it’s certainly an intimidating situation, it’s also a good opportunity to hit the reset button and get back on the right track.  Continue reading