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What would you do?


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Shouldn't they have been in the OP, before G's last reply?

No; not really. Maybe you have never seen this, but there was a PBS show back in the late 80’s called Ethics In America. It had a moderator who set up a simple scenario then invited the panel to field questions, make suggestions, and the ongoing information created within the hypothetical grew organically out of the conversations while the moderator kept things on track of the original hypothetical premise. It was very interesting and it yielded much insight into various ways issues are addressed. That is sort of what has happened in this thread; and that can continue if people will allow the fun of it to blossom. So please join in as a ‘Board’ member and provide suggestions to help alleviate the conundrum set forth in the opening post. :satisfied:

Edited by Stu
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You seem to be under the mistaken impression that the bylaws you quote requiring our direct communication also give you the right to share my private thoughts without my permission. I am not accustomed to such an assumption as it's not practiced in any other board/executive relationship in which I participate. Your rationale of quoting the bylaws is frivolous based on their exact wording which requires the executive to report any ongoing discussions to the Board, not the other executives as you did. Regardless, I will as a result be guarded in any conversations I have with you as I'll have the presumption that you'll share my comments as you choose with, or without, my permission.

We will gladly re-read the minutes from the past two seasons where you asked for relief from meeting the spending limitations as laid out in our longevity plan. I'm confident that they will show that the executive staff requested the relief and that this board agreed. Your admission now regarding corps which rely heavily on member dues tend to fail was not part of your appeal in prior years and will make us cautious of your rationale should you request relief in the future.

You also seem to be under the misguided belief that this board has any obligation for input in the show's design or the costs to present that design. We do not. It is the executive staff's obligation to see that the show, as designed, falls below the spending limit, and it is also the executive's obligation to see that funding is secured to pay for that show design. This board will simply not be dragged into a detailed discussion of what should be included or not in the creative product. Your decision to find new funding or step up existing funding or adding or cutting from the show product is just that, your decision. It is your prerogative to design the best show possible within the confines of our by-laws and longevity plan. We, as a body, will simply view the finances provided to us by the CFO in May to decide whether to sign off on allowing the corps to leave on tour, or not, according to those financial records. We will also, of course, attend to our other fiduciary responsibilities regarding the safety of the members and legal agreements engaged on behalf of the corps.

It is now February so you have a little over 3 months to attain the minimum threshold of 75% funding for the show design you developed. We look forward to your CFO's report at the end of May.

I move to adjourn the meeting, is there a second? So moved, we are adjourned until our June 1 regularly-scheduled meeting.

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Prior to the adjournment, let it be known for the record that:

a) The CEO always has and always will separate private matters from organizational matters; and while private matters will always stay private, discussion concerning the process, business practice, or advice concerning the 'interests of organization itself', while it will remain private in the realm of the organizational governing body, it will not be considered as private to the CEO and the person providing the advice; and the advice to never ever cut provided to the CEO by the President would certainly effect the entire organization. The reasoning behind this is that the CEO does not ever want to be placed in a position which if the information is not discussed openly with the Board it could be construed as a secret handshake type relationship between the President and the CEO; it is the belief of the CEO that internal matters concerning the decisions which effect the organization should not be 'under the table' wink, wink, conversations; secrecy in that manner has destroyed many other corporations from the inside out.

b) My promise as CEO is to attempt to garner as much revenue as possible to reach stated goals by the Board; but more importantly as the CEO I also promise to always keep the organization in the black even if projected revenue does not materialize; and my decisions between now and the June 1 meeting will be directly in line with that staying in the black promise. If the organization is in the black at that time, and you want to remove me from office at that time, so be it. But please know some cuts in programs will occur between now and June 1 if the revenue does not materialize to make sure we stay in the black.

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The CEO has been admonished somewhat in the meeting for not reaching projected revenue goals, for bringing performance issues into the business meeting, and especially for disclosing advice, which if implemented, would affect the entire organization and this advice came from a conversation the President apparently wanted to remain hush hush. That struggle is part of being an adult in an adult world. Question: Has the CEO now lost the confidence of the President or the Board in general; or was this merely a matter of adjusting the positioning and understanding between the President and CEO in both of them looking out for the best interest of the corporation?

Edited by Stu
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Things beyond your control always occur. And no amount of planning and preparation can eliminate all risk of income dropping or projected revenue not appearing. So, what if:

Board meeting at XYZ corps and you are a member of the Board. The corps has planned a full national tour with 140 kids, 24 staff, four buses, 2 semi-trucks, you get the drift. Auditions and camps are well underway when in February the following is announced in the Board meeting by the corps administration: “The projected funding has not materialized; we have applied for multiple grants, engaged in other funding measures even outside of our bingo; we are pounding the pavement hours on eand to increase our revenue. Nevertheless, we have only hit 74% of what we need by this Feb juncture and the efforts to compensate are looking bleak. We will continue to try seeking out other resources but that will take time with no guarantees. The good news is that we are currently in the black. And we do have an emergency pool; but that is, well, in case of an emergency which is also in a restricted account. Moreover, even if we unlocked that account according to our figures we would still be way in the red after Finals in August”.

Question for anyone on DCP: What would you do? Risk what happened to Teal Sound? Risk what happened to Glassmen? Or would you do what you could to increase revenue while also finding ways to cut expenditures to stay in the black?

first i'd look to see if the limited touring model could be applied to the corps, and if not, well, hopefully there's next year

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Missing something here. If the bus/truck leases are shortened, what will the corps do during that time?

If the tour schedule is truncated the corps will not take a few weeks off mid tour but instead delay the start of tour until July 5, and then go to the scheduled shows heading into the July 19 San Antoinio show. Since the corps emulates the move-in housing philosophy of the Blue Devils, we will inform the performers that they need to secure housing at the home base until to July 5 as opposed to June 20. Are Alumni Association has also said that they would chip some extra 'personal' funds to help the youth compensate for that two-week added expense if necessary, provided that the youth agree to work a shift at bingo during those two weeks or do something else during that time period to help the association raise the funds.

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If the tour schedule is truncated the corps will not take a few weeks off mid tour but instead delay the start of tour until July 5, and then go to the scheduled shows heading into the July 19 San Antoinio show. Since the corps emulates the move-in housing philosophy of the Blue Devils, we will inform the performers that they need to secure housing at the home base until to July 5 as opposed to June 20. Are Alumni Association has also said that they would chip some extra 'personal' funds to help the youth compensate for that two-week added expense if necessary, provided that the youth agree to work a shift at bingo during those two weeks or do something else during that time period to help the association raise the funds.

so you have just transferred the costs to the members, where it would cost them individually more than having them all together with corps-provided housing and meals. This puts being a member even further out of reach for the less economically fortunate.

You haven't reduced costs at all, just moved them to the backs of the members. My guess is you just raised the overall total cost of operating the corps over the entire season, as you eliminated the economy of scale you had when members moved in and lived/ate together. Of course, some of that increase is not visible to the corps as an expense, as it now belongs to the members.

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If the tour schedule is truncated the corps will not take a few weeks off mid tour but instead delay the start of tour until July 5, and then go to the scheduled shows heading into the July 19 San Antoinio show. Since the corps emulates the move-in housing philosophy of the Blue Devils, we will inform the performers that they need to secure housing at the home base until to July 5 as opposed to June 20. Are Alumni Association has also said that they would chip some extra 'personal' funds to help the youth compensate for that two-week added expense if necessary, provided that the youth agree to work a shift at bingo during those two weeks or do something else during that time period to help the association raise the funds.

Sounds like move-in date would remain the same. Will the corps still be together full-time during those two weeks of cancelled tour? Because if so, I wonder how much will be saved. You still have to feed the kids. You still might need to move your trailers, depending on the logistics of your rehearsal sites (which, in this case, you did not even start looking for until March). You will still need buses at times to get the corps to local performances, unless you cancel them too (which denies you critical local exposure, plus revenue from local contests, July 4th parades, etc.). There is an obvious saving on fuel costs, but the cost of breaking your existing lease contracts might cancel that out.

A later move-in date may be necessary to achieve a real reduction of costs in this scenario.

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