On charity trustee roles

I’ve recently been the sounding board for a friend who has been looking for a trustee role. So far without success but there will be one. Craig Coben, writing in the Financial Times last month, offers a sharp observation about professionals who join charity boards after long corporate careers: many miss institutional clout more than they expect. Board roles can become a way of preserving that authority in soft focus. It is an uncomfortable thought. But I suspect it deserves more honest attention than it usually receives.