Giving Compass' Take:

• The Business of Giving details its trip to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, learning about how experts from different sectors work together towards a common goal.

• While this post is about a specific field of research, the tenets of how these oceanographers go about their work can provide lessons to leaders across the nonprofit world. Team-building is essential.

• While we're on the topic, here's why funding the ocean is the next wave in philanthropy.

Better Than Most is a regular feature of The Business of Giving, examining the best places to work among social good businesses and nonprofit organizations.

For this edition, we took a trip off to Massachusetts and to the campus of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. We’ll begin with their President and Director, Mark Abbot and then you will hear from some of the other members of the team.

"Being out on a research ship, you have to work together. You get physicists, chemists, biologists; and that’s just inherent in the DNA of ocean science. But at Woods Hole Oceanographic, since we’re all focused on that; we’re not doing undergraduate teaching. We’re not part of a large university that has other activities, be it engineering or liberal arts. All good things, but we really focused on understanding the ocean as a system; that really empowers a lot more team building. Because to attack the science, you’ve got to all work together," says Abbott.

Read the full article about visiting the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute by Denver Frederick at Business of Giving.