Board member archetypes
Recognizable patterns you can identify quickly.
Coming soon
Bad Boards
Surviving dysfunctional boards without losing your job or sanity.
You were hired to lead. Not to manage the board.
Bad Boards is a practical field guide for nonprofit executive directors, CEOs, and senior staff dealing with board behavior that derails the work.
Grounded in nonprofit board dynamics, the patterns in Bad Boards will feel familiar to anyone who has had to lead through unclear authority, competing agendas, and decision-making dysfunction.
The patterns are real
If you have worked with a board long enough, you have seen it.
The micromanager who cannot let go. The absentee who disappears when it matters. The dominant voice that takes over the room. The well-meaning member who keeps pulling the work off course.
These are not rare situations. They are patterns. This book helps leaders recognize them faster, respond clearly, and stay steady when the room gets difficult.
Beyond the Nonprofit Boardroom
Bad Boards is written from the Executive Director’s seat, but its patterns reach beyond the nonprofit sector. Anyone who has led through unclear authority, difficult rooms, competing agendas, or decisions that would not stay made will recognize pieces of this book.
The nonprofit boardroom is the setting. The leadership dynamics are broader.
Inside the book
Practical help for the moments when theory is not enough.
Real-world scenarios
Situations that feel uncomfortably familiar.
Practical strategies
Ways to respond without escalating the dysfunction.
Meeting language
Clear lines you can actually use in the room.
Combination patterns
How difficult dynamics interact.
A reset playbook
A practical path for stabilizing expectations and roles.
About the author
Keri Stokstad
Keri Stokstad is a nonprofit executive and operations leader who helps organizations strengthen systems, communication, and decision-making. Her work sits at the intersection of board dynamics, staff leadership, public trust, and practical organizational change.
Contact
Questions about Bad Boards?
For speaking, media, organizational inquiries, or questions about the book, use the form below.
Because the work still matters