Discover the Journey of Lalé Welsh: Celebrating the Freedom to write
It’s Not Your Baby grew out of Lalé Welsh’s decades of work across the nonprofit, academic, and public sectors, where she has served as an executive leader, board member, advisor, and collaborator with mission-driven organizations around the world.
Over the course of her career, Lalé has worked with and served on boards of more than 37 nonprofit organizations, gaining a close view of how governance works in practice. Through those experiences she witnessed both the remarkable impact nonprofits can have—and the subtle governance dynamics that can quietly undermine even the best missions.
Again and again, she observed a similar pattern: accomplished, well-meaning people joining boards because they believe deeply in the mission, only to gradually blur the line between stewardship and ownership.
These shifts rarely begin with bad intentions. More often they emerge from what Lalé describes as “accidental narcissism in the boardroom”—a dynamic where passion, identity, and authority slowly become entangled.
Before focusing on nonprofit leadership, Lalé built her career in the technology and media sectors, leading business development initiatives for Silicon Valley startups as well as larger organizations including AT&T, Monster, and Paramount Studios. That earlier work exposed her to very different leadership structures, incentives, and governance models—perspectives that later shaped how she viewed nonprofit board culture.
Lalé Welsh is a first time author, although she's been writing this book in her head for nearly 20 years! Over time, Lalé began documenting the patterns she saw repeated across organizations—patterns that eventually evolved into It’s Not Your Baby, a field guide to understanding the psychology of nonprofit boards, the risks that arise when governance boundaries erode, and the tools organizations can use to protect the mission above all else.
Because the greatest danger in nonprofit governance is rarely bad people.
It is good people who slowly forget the difference between stewardship and ownership..
Lalé Welsh has spent her career working across the nonprofit, academic, and public sectors as a leader, board member, and advisor to mission-driven organizations. She has collaborated with and served on boards of more than 37 nonprofit organizations, gaining a wide-ranging perspective on governance and leadership dynamics.
Earlier in her career she worked in business development for Silicon Valley startups and major organizations including AT&T, Monster, and Paramount Studios. Combined with her international work connected to the Neuromuscular Disease Foundation, these experiences informed the perspective behind her book It’s Not Your Baby, which examines the psychology of nonprofit boards and the governance failures that can emerge even among well-intentioned leaders..
Lalé Welsh divides her time between Ojai, California and Colorado Springs, where she lives with her husband Jon and a lively coterie of animals who firmly believe they run the household.
Between them, Lalé and Jon are parents to five fully launched adult children and their partners. While they are currently grandparents only to dogs, that will soon change—two grandchildren are expected to arrive in the summer of 2026.
Lalé was born in the United Kingdom to an English mother and Iranian father and grew up surrounded by multiple cultures, languages, and perspectives. Her parents still live together in Ojai, a place that has remained an anchor throughout her adult life. She came to California for college and, as she likes to say, never quite managed to leave.