Aligned Influence:
BEYOND GOVERNANCE
Achieve True Effectiveness.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Within every organization is an “ecosystem” of influencers. In organizations with boards of directors and executives, that ecosystem is even more complex, and it is even more important to understand it for the benefit of everyone, including the investors/donors. To date, governance models have provided little to no understanding of this ecosystem of influence, leaving this as an ongoing problem in organizations with the complexity of a board and executive. Governance experts have applied a number of inadequate solutions to a problem they still do not grasp. Within Aligned Influence®, Ken Schuetz presents the Aligned Influence® model which offers a unique perspective to this central problem and a solution that addresses organizational alignment as a necessary prerequisite to effectiveness.
HELPFUL RESOURCES
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Learn more about how the Aligned Influence Model works.
Read about the roles and responsibilities of board member and the executive team.
Get a sneak peak of what Aligned Influence: Beyond Governance is about by reading a preview of the book.
Download our white paper on the difference between Aligned Influence and Policy Governance.
Testimonials
In Aligned Influence®: Beyond Governance, Ken Schuetz presents a simple six-word model that illustrates fundamental roles for boards and executives. Resources are always limited. When change and financial challenge impact an organization, it is simple truths and principles that should define resource priorities. What Ken does well is avoid the traditional legal perspective. Rather, he presents a board and management model structured around getting to the ideal outcome for the organization. His approach not only focuses on simple truths, it also connects them with structure and easily understood practice. Aligned Influence® is a great read, and it’s especially important for board and management leaders, assurance providers, and regulators.
—Daniel Clayton, CPA, CIA, CKM; management consultant; accountability consulting; author of Sawyer’s Internal Auditing: Enhancing and Protecting Organizational Value, 7th edition
From the work floors right on up to the C-suites and the boardroom, contention is a company killer. Because organizational cultures are rife with strife, leaders have leveraged politics and power time and again for personal gain, flinging for-profits and non-profits off the path of their mission. It’s time for change-oriented leaders to take up Aligned Influence®: Beyond Governance by Ken Schuetz. With keen insights drawn from years of experience, Ken has pioneered a path forward for boards and executives that goes beyond current governance models and provides the way to clear and sensible organizational alignment. Applying Aligned Influence®, organizations can finally make big wins while encouraging healthy discourse and collaboration over destructive competitions for power and influence within.
—Jennifer Hayden Epperson, EdD (organizational leadership), author, educator, and radio professional
Ken Schuetz’s book Aligned Influence®: Beyond Governance absolutely nails it! The Aligned Influence® process gives boards and executives a clear approach for effectively collaborating, leading, managing, and genuinely benefiting their organization. I highly recommend this book. It’s a must-read.
—Bruce Beck, president and founder of The Essentials Group, LLC,
author of The Essentials of Leadership, and former executive at Eli Lilly and Company
Aligned Influence - Beyond Governance provides a clear path for the role of the board of directors as well as the role of the executive director and her team to be yoked together in a way that provides the greatest benefit to the organization as a whole. If your organization struggles with determining who should direct, who should lead, who should protect, who should manage, this book is for you. If your organization has a power struggle between the board and the management team, this book is for you. If your executive director is overworked and your board lacks tasks and direction, this book is for you. The Aligned Influence model has already helped numerous nonprofit organizations in inspiring the board of directors and members of the executive team to levels of greatness. As each group stays in their prescribed lanes to accomplish the tasks that are inherently designed for their roles, the whole becomes much greater than the sum of the parts.
— Ryan N. Hagan, CFE, CPA
Nonprofit Audit and Accounting Advisor
Protecting the organization from cyber security threats has been a top priority for chief information officers (CIOs) in most organizations for the past decade, and the trend continues. In an ever-expanding technology landscape, it is challenging at best to keep up with the sophistication and speed of the latest attacks. As a cyber security consultant working with different organizations and in many industries, I often find that boards of directors and executives lack an understanding of the threats, their adversaries, and the role they have in determining the actions necessary to mitigate the risks. This may result in inaction or suboptimal use of resources, and it can exacerbate the risks. The Aligned Influence® model equips these important stakeholders with a framework to effectively tackle the challenges. Through complimentary roles and purposeful dialog about cyber security risk, it is possible to gain a shared understanding of the top cyber security concerns, the impacts to the business, and determine the best possible mitigation approaches. Ken Schuetz’s book, Aligned Influence®: Beyond Governance, presents this critically important approach.
—Stig Ravdal, president, Ravdal Inc., cyber security
The Aligned Influence® model for aligning the roles of our heads of schools and their boards of directors and the associated development processes have proven to be a valuable resource for our member schools. I highly recommend that you consider taking advantage of the Aligned Influence® book, and the services and consulting work that Ken Schuetz and his associates will provide to your school!
—David M. Ray, assistant vice president, Strategic Partners/Student Services, Association of Christian Schools International
As an expert in the employee experience, measuring the alignment and effectiveness of boards of directors and executive teams has been a “missing link” in our industry. Ken Schuetz and Aligned Influence® have provided a framework that has allowed us, in partnership, to create a robust assessment tool that finally addresses this need, leading to much needed insight and clarity to further strengthen organizational leadership and governance. Ken’s book, Aligned Influence®: Beyond Governance, unpacks the essentials of this framework, providing leaders with critical structure, strength, and enrichment for their organizations in today’s complex environment.
—Leanne Buehler, PhD, managing partner and vice president of Consulting Services, Newmeasures, LLC
As a leader of an organization who is trying to help more people, my primary concern is expanding our capacity. Since we adopted the Aligned Influence® model, we’ve been able to quadruple the number of families served. What makes this model unique is its ability to leverage different perspectives and channel those individual energies in a complementary way. Our ministry has no fewer than eight distinct groups of stakeholders. Each group has a unique perspective, and each plays a critical role. Using this model, those stakeholders each contribute in a way that magnifies the efforts of the others. Aligned Influence®: Beyond Governance articulates this model so any organization can benefit from it.
—David C. Emerson, executive director, Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley, Colorado
As the executive director for an association of forty colleges and schools, I’m keenly aware of the critical relationship that exists between boards and the leaders they select to steward their organizations. When this relationship is healthy and both understand and execute their respective roles, the organization flourishes. But when the relationship is uninformed or troubled, so is the organization. Ken Schuetz’s book, Aligned Influence®: Beyond Governance, represents a treasure trove of valuable insights for boards and organizational leaders, providing a clear pathway to organizational success. I’ve worked with Ken personally and witnessed the impressive results of his Aligned Influence® model firsthand. Aligned Influence®: Beyond Governance is a must-read for any organization seeking to enhance its effectiveness.
—Colonel Ray Rottman, USAF (ret), executive director of Association of Military Colleges and Schools of the United States
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Drama, in-fighting, and communication that comes at cross-purposes does NOT have to be the norm for boards and executive leadership. Ken Schuetz is helping nonprofits, municipalities, and educational institutions across the country run like well-oiled machines based on his new approach to leadership and governance.
Ken is the CEO and founder of Aligned Influence Consulting and the creator of the Aligned Influence model. He has invested the first 25 years of his career as an executive at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he also earned his degree and where he is currently a member of the teaching faculty of the Leeds School of Business. Ken has taken his expertise in organizational development and authored numerous articles and the just-published Aligned Influence®: Beyond Governance. The new book, available on Amazon and through the Aligned Influence website, documents the Aligned Influence model and proactively illustrates how boards and executive teams can apply it to their organizations.
Ken utilizes his decades of experience as an executive in higher education, multiple years as board leadership, and an academic background in organizational communication to help organizations achieve the effectiveness that they and their communities of interest desire. Ken’s work in organizational development and leadership has extended to many organizations across the United States, including for-profits and nonprofits, faith-based, and secular organizations. Ken currently resides in Longmont, Colorado.