Janet Kyle Altman

If you feel like your board of directors is performing really well right now, make sure to celebrate the moment. It's not likely to last forever. Everything is changing all the time, and the best organizations are flexible enough to welcome and benefit from that change, while continually looking at areas for improvement. Your organization needs to understand and adopt innovations in your field. Does your leadership team have the right expertise to do so?

As the pace of change accelerates, leaders will face more challenges they must address quickly. As a director, you know you're responsible for providing oversight to help management make decisions responsibly. With your individual expertise and the collective wisdom of your board colleagues, you provide crucial perspective, insight and guidance. You act as a catalyst for leadership when risks arise. But the most valuable directors are proactive.

More than 20 percent of women in Miami-Dade County live in poverty. That’s more than a quarter million women. Many of them are single, working mothers, struggling to put food on the table for their families. That’s not acceptable. You know these women: the janitor in your office building; the aide who takes care of your father-in-law; the mother working with you on a PTA project. One in five women — a huge number — is struggling to make ends meet.