black…MYstory

It only took 19 months for Bruce Gordon to throw in the towel as CEO of the NAACP.

Was it incompetence? No, Gordon brings a wealth of experience from his 35-year history in corporate America, retiring as president of Retail Markets in Verizon’s Domestic Telecom unit.

No, Gordon is leaving because of “differences with the board over his role and the direction of the organization.”

Though Gordon blames no one and the board seems to have wanted him to stay, it appears that being the CEO of the NAACP is particularly challenging when it comes to dealing with its board of directors.

You see, the NAACP board has 64 members. Some might shrug their shoulders and say “what’s the big deal?” Well, contrast this to what is currently the largest company in America, Exxon-Mobil. This company, whose profits run into the tens of billions of dollars has a board that, in their by-laws, is only allowed to be between 10-19 members.

Imagine how challenging it has to be to try to get consensus among 64 board members.

Also, it appears that, unlike traditional CEO roles, Gordon was not allowed to really set direction for the organization. Gordon not only wanted to deal with the issue of civil rights but, also, wanted to be a more service-oriented organization, which put him at odds with the board.

Mr. Gordon said he did not believe that the organization should abandon its civil rights mission but rather that it should expand its role to include providing social services. “This is not an either/or,” he said. “There needs to be the right balance between advocacy and service.”

“It would be insane to give up on advocacy,” he continued. “I just think we can do more than that, and should.”

Well, methinks it’s time for the NAACP to re-examine its mission to see if it’s really meeting the needs of the population it claims to serve.

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