I was wondering about flamingos recently, and it led to a little research. I had caught myself saying that a well-developed organization with a weak board is like a flamingo — a being that stands on a straw-like leg.  It was a way of describing the diagram below (more about that in a minute). My nagging question was whether the image of a flamingo was a good analogy, since we don’t actually see flamingos tipping over. We do, however, see seemingly successful organizations toppling over from board and executive-level scandals, two recent examples being Liberty University and McDonald’s.