One of the nicest things a board member can do is stand up and say, "Your plan sounds great and I'm all for it, but I don't see how you can pull it off." Said with a supportive shake of the head it can be non-threatening if he really is behind you and willing to back your plan anyway. The nice thing is that it provides a wonderful "See-we-did-it" speech later on.

As our board reviewed the plans for LEADERSHIP last June, one member said about our projections to break even the first year, "I'm all for starting this,: but I think your figures are too optimistic." Actually, he was using horse sense-most magazines take at least three years to break into the black; Sports Illustrated took about a dozen. In fact, of any two hundred magazines started today, only about five last eighteen months. The only reason our staff was so optimistic was that they had test results in their hands. Pastors and lay leaders wanted and needed LEADERSHIP, and the tests indicated they would pay for it.

Well, we can ...