So what can nonprofits give up for Lent?
Give something up?? Are you kidding me? We're just barely making it as it is!
Hear me out. This blog has been brewing for days. Hope it's not too late. It is Ash Wednesday night.
In trying times, in a highly competitive landscape, it may be a good idea to do something counterintuitive. Unless you're on a really good roll, maybe a little change isn't a bad idea. Here are a few things you might consider changing for the next 40 days:
1) Give up meetings. Do you really need to have a staff meeting each week? A conference call every Monday? A board meeting every two months? You can still talk to these people if you really need to. A break in scheduled meetings will be a very refreshing change for people having trouble sleeping because of stress.
2) Give up editing every grant your grant writer puts in front of you. If you trust the person writing proposals, give them the responsibility to get it right and get it done. You'll get an extra few hours every week that you spend "improving" proposals. And you'll probably get more proposals submitted in 40 days than you have in the last 60 days.
3) Give up watching the news about how bad the economy is. At least give it up after 12pm so you can sleep better at night. Maybe the extra 15 minutes will give you more time to focus on your mission.
4) Give up an hour a week you spend on your assigned job and spend it with one of your constituents - client or donor. You'll be amazed at what you learn - and you'll probably do your job better.
5) Give up staying tuned to your regular source of news and information all day long. If you look for a new source every day for 40 days, chances are you'll find at least two or three keepers. Not a bad addition for a rapidly changing world.
That's it for for now. There have got to be more things we can give up. Stay tuned.
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Hope is Not a Strategy
There's lots of hope in the air these days. With two wars going on, the economy in a shambles, both poles melting, and another half dozen issues over which to wring your hands, you'd better have hope.
As my friend Mark told me: "Both candidates have pledged to lower my taxes, improve my healthcare, make sure my children will be well educated and have clean air to breathe in a country with perfectly safe borders. So regardless of who wins the election, things will get better starting next week. They promised."
It's sort of amusing to see these guys on the national stage selling hope. Often during my long sales career, I spent more time than I wanted selling hope during sales forecast reviews. When the sales aren't there - they aren't there. But try telling that to hardheaded, pollyanna sales managers. When they can't handle reality, it's time to start selling hope.
Now I don't mean to be coming down hard on hope or optimism. We know from life - and the Good Book - that trials create endurance; endurance creates character; and character creates hope. Hope does not disappoint as long as it's placed in the right direction. I've got plenty of hope. I'd like to skip that trials / endurance / character building thing as much as possible in the future.
When it comes to optimism I have gained some wisdom over the last few decades. I am a "recovering obsessor." Yes, I've worried about a lot of small - and big - things that just never turned out to be a problem. It's taken me a while, but I've learned there really is a reason to be optimistic. That's based on personal history.
When you look at national and world history, economists are telling us that things will be okay - eventually. The presidential candidates are certainly telling us this. I do believe this to be true.
But historical knowledge is only based on what has been observed. For many dozen centuries, people believed that only white swans existed. Then Dutch explorers, in 1697, discovered a black swan in Australia.
Based on this improbable discovery, Nassim Taleb has written a philosophy book about our exposure to rare events. There's a fascinating PBS interview with him and the mathematician with whom he studied. This book may not be a page turner, but it does have some important implications for nonprofits.
The world grows smaller and more complex each day. Fragility, unintended consequences, and more interdependence affects us all - at work, at home, throughout the community. What are we going to do about it?
Last month I asked many questions, all related to change for your nonprofit. Of course, now I have more questions.
Are you exposed in the current economy? Are you preparing to make changes? Do you have some real plans for what's next?
What is your strategy? Is it hope?
As my friend Mark told me: "Both candidates have pledged to lower my taxes, improve my healthcare, make sure my children will be well educated and have clean air to breathe in a country with perfectly safe borders. So regardless of who wins the election, things will get better starting next week. They promised."
It's sort of amusing to see these guys on the national stage selling hope. Often during my long sales career, I spent more time than I wanted selling hope during sales forecast reviews. When the sales aren't there - they aren't there. But try telling that to hardheaded, pollyanna sales managers. When they can't handle reality, it's time to start selling hope.
Now I don't mean to be coming down hard on hope or optimism. We know from life - and the Good Book - that trials create endurance; endurance creates character; and character creates hope. Hope does not disappoint as long as it's placed in the right direction. I've got plenty of hope. I'd like to skip that trials / endurance / character building thing as much as possible in the future.
When it comes to optimism I have gained some wisdom over the last few decades. I am a "recovering obsessor." Yes, I've worried about a lot of small - and big - things that just never turned out to be a problem. It's taken me a while, but I've learned there really is a reason to be optimistic. That's based on personal history.
When you look at national and world history, economists are telling us that things will be okay - eventually. The presidential candidates are certainly telling us this. I do believe this to be true.
But historical knowledge is only based on what has been observed. For many dozen centuries, people believed that only white swans existed. Then Dutch explorers, in 1697, discovered a black swan in Australia.
Based on this improbable discovery, Nassim Taleb has written a philosophy book about our exposure to rare events. There's a fascinating PBS interview with him and the mathematician with whom he studied. This book may not be a page turner, but it does have some important implications for nonprofits.
The world grows smaller and more complex each day. Fragility, unintended consequences, and more interdependence affects us all - at work, at home, throughout the community. What are we going to do about it?
Last month I asked many questions, all related to change for your nonprofit. Of course, now I have more questions.
Are you exposed in the current economy? Are you preparing to make changes? Do you have some real plans for what's next?
What is your strategy? Is it hope?
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