The Question Every CEO Should Be Asking

Years ago, Joel was the CFO at a small community health center.

Every afternoon around 4:00, he'd stop by the front desk to pick up the day's cash and reconciliation reports.

One day he noticed the receptionist was selling something.

Raffle tickets.

He asked her what the raffle was for.

She said, completely matter-of-factly —

"I've got a 1973 Ford Pinto. It runs, but it's not worth much. So I'm raffling it off. Winner gets the car."

She was running a car raffle. Out of the front desk. Of a federally qualified health center.

Joel laughed. Then he stopped laughing.

Because in that moment he realized something that has stuck with both of us ever since:

This is exactly how mission creep starts.

Not with a bad decision.

With a creative one.

A well-intentioned one.

Something that seems harmless until it isn't.

Community health centers are especially vulnerable to this. Because we can generate revenue in ways most nonprofits can't, the community sees us as the organization that can solve problems. And staff, good, mission-driven staff, want to help.

So we say yes.

To one more program. One more grant. One more service. One more community request.

Each yes feels small.

But together, they slowly pull the organization away from the mission it was built to serve.

The Pinto raffle is an extreme example. Most mission creep is much subtler.

But the question every CEO should be asking is the same:

Is this actually ours to do?