Joanna: I know that I write the case as if everything appears to happen very abruptly, but I think we should expect that there'd been a good deal of introspection in the organization over the past several years. When MAF was running into the ground, the board really had to take stock of the situation before deciding to fire the founding director. I think that many board (and staff) members were hopeful about the future as they searched for and then employed a new executive director, but not particularly optimistic. I think a lot of the disinterest or negative energy among the board was the result of a lot of thinking about an unhealthy organization for a long time. All this to say that the decision might not have been as abrupt as the case might suggest. It was a long time coming.

Mark