Chaperone or Go It Alone

When you work for a company that is traded on the stock exchange - - you have a “chaperone” watching the company’s performance.  When you Go It Alone - - everything depends on what you personally do each and every day.

In a recent conversation with a colleague, we were discussing the difference between an organization like ours - - employees, physical building, board of directors, major fundraising, digital exposure - - everything needed to do the job VS a group of friends who rescue on a much smaller scale, do not have a building, their board of directors consists of a few friends, major fundraising is a challenge and digital exposure (ie Facebook)  is the connection for finding homeless pets and finding homes for the pets.

It took me awhile – but here’s an analogy that made sense.  When you go it alone it is similar to two people on a date – driving down the road.  You talk to each other, decide what to do and then just do it. On the other hand, when you have a building, employees, partners etc and you’re a non-profit – the two of you are driving down the road and your mother/father/chaperone is sitting in the back seat - - watching, giving advice and making a mental note of everything that’s happening.

In the business world, a privately held company has similarities to the car with two people and no chaperone.  Yes they have certain criteria to meet, but they do not have a lot of oversight. On the other hand, when a company goes public, they raise lots of money, have an invested board of directors and must make “the numbers” they projected.  They have more than one chaperone/mother/etc watching their every move.

Both scenarios result in either lives saved or profits generated.  The big question for each of us is which one describes where I work.