Any transition serious enough to alter your definition of self will require not just small adjustments in your way of living and thinking but a full-on metamorphosis. -Martha Beck
Did you miss my call today? We discussed this and so much more:
What is the normal process that people go through when they’re making a career change?-NORMAL is hard to define but we review the key stages of process.
How do folks normally leave one career and create a new, more rewarding one or why is letting go of average in hopes for fantastic so HARD?
Are their any special question or steps for those in the nonprofit sector? I am passionate about my work and I can NOT leave the community I work with, even though its killing me.
I worked for YEARS to get this title….how can I be expected to give it up?
I shared key steps/ stages of successful career transformation (based on model by William Bridges in his groundbreaking book,Transitions.)
Reinventing yourself requires time, and a great deal of courage, strength, patience, self-love, and faith. Let this call be the first step on your journey!
I am bacckkkkk!!!! I am back with Wednesday Wisdom with a twist. Check out the video to learn about changes and how you will play a huge role moving forward. I do not have all the wisdom and will tapping into you guys to share as well. Let’s learn from one another!
Enjoy the nuggets of wisdom I share this week and look for me next week with more tools and resources.If you feel so moved please share your thoughts. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.
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If you want to build core nonprofit management skills crucial to your organization’s success you can schedule some 1:1 time with me here or learn about other ways we can work together here.
You can also get inspiration, ideas, resources tools and freebies including my latest report: Top 5 questions you need to think about before you go out and change the world by signing up for my newsletter
If all of us acted in unison as I act individually, there would be no wars and no poverty. I have made myself personally responsible for the fate of every human being who has come my way.” -Anais Nin
I Bear Witness.
Do you believe that giving voice to another’s struggle promotes global freedom and community? Today join me over at She Loves Magazine.
I explore the role of bearing witness in social justice work. Come on over and join the discussion.
If you want to build core nonprofit management skills crucial to your organization’s success you can schedule some 1:1 time with me here or learn about other ways we can work together here.
You can also get inspiration, ideas, resources tools and freebies including my latest report: Top 5 questions you need to think about before you go out and change the world by signing up for my newsletter
..these stories are a kind of beacon. By making stories full of empathy and amusement and the sheer pleasure of discovering the world, these writers reassert the fact that we live in a world where joy and empathy and pleasure are all around us, there for the noticing.
― Ira Glass
So Ira Glass has always been a hero of mine. I love This American Life. In case you have been living on mars and do not know , This American Life is a weekly public radio show broadcast on more than 500 stations to about 1.8 million listeners. It has won all of the major broadcasting awards. It is also often the most popular podcast in the country, with around 700,000 people downloading each week. The stories they tell always touch me in some way. It is must not miss radio for me every week.
Last week Ira Glass and This American Life had to do something they have never done before. They had to retract a story. They reported a story that they later found out was filled with fabrications. They did fact check the story and while some of the major info was true, some of the work was not. They reported information that did not meet their high standards nor the standards of their profession.The most powerful moments of the story that they were not able to fact check were in fact found to be not true.
This post is not about the story but about the way This American Life (TAL) handled the crisis.
1. They were transparent. TAL very plainly, honestly and openly admitted their mistakes. They did not try and sugar coat them, nor did they try to give them a pretty spin No excuses were made. They were not happy about the situation and did not pretend to be. Nonprofits should acknowledge simply and honestly when problems exist or that some how the public trust has been affected. Nonprofits should always communicate issues, problems and mistakes to donors, volunteers and stakeholders with accurate timelines and facts. Please do not send out any type of “self serving message” or hide behind weak arguments that minimize the problem in times of crisis. Unconditionally commit to regularly report additional information as it becomes available. And if its your fault, please for the love of life just say “It’s our fault.”
Those who do not have power over the story that dominates their lives—the power to retell it, rethink it, deconstruct it,
joke about it, and change it as times change— truly are powerless, because they cannot think new thoughts.
—Salman Rushdie
You may have noticed that I have been super quiet on the Kony 2012 controversy. Those of you who know me , were probably shocked that you did not hear my opinion on this issue- because I always have an opinion.
I did not respond in the middle of the brou-haha , because I was angry. I was really angry, but that is another story for another day. More importantly I wanted to make space for the Ugandan voices to be heard. That’s right.. not a western voice, but the voice of the folks that matter. The folks impacted. The Ugandan people.
I was happy to see all the articles, blog post and vlogs by Ugandans sharing their thoughts–pro or con.
In talking with someone I admire she shared with me some great wisdom: It is really easy to have a campaign to hunt down and kill a bad black man.
I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified, because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves. We’ve been taught that silence would save us, but it won’t. ~Audre Lorde
Seventy percent of people living in poverty worldwide are women. That is a difficult statistic to write.
Those are difficult chains to break free from.
Women perform 66 percent of the world’s work, produce 50 percent of the food, but earn 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property.
Every time I am in a major grocery store buying fresh organic fruits or vegetables, I know that statistically the odds say that a woman living in poverty helped produce it. She planted, and harvested it. Yet she can not afford to purchase it.
That faceless woman living in poverty is my sister, my daughter, my mother.
Lets get down to the brass tacks so many women live in abject poverty because women do not have a strong political voice in many countries ( including this one) and in some countries they do not matter.
I said it in a previous post and I will say it again,this year lets commit to purchasing one less “thing” and invest in one more woman. Lets commit to giving women access to financial and human capital. Once we do we will undoubtedly see family income rise. We will see children educated, health and housing will improve and communities will be transformed. Empowering women reduces poverty. Its as simple as that.
We invest resources in those things we care about and that are important to us, as individuals as well as a society. Poor women matter. Their health matters. Their education matters.
People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision. ~ John C. Maxwell
I have been fascinated by founders for a lot of years. Their vision, their charisma, their passion, their fortitude.
They are revolutionaries moved to act, engage, and create. As a part of another project I am working on (stay tuned, its coming soon!!), I am conducting interviews with nonprofit founders across the country. Inviting the founders of 25 organizations to share their wisdom. In selecting these organizations, I have looked for diversity in terms of both geography and mission. I have connected with founders who have built outstanding organizations that focus on service and impact.
I will be sharing a few a of their stories here. Why?
To provide solid guidance, tools and advice for organizations in the start-up phase and those needing to reconnect to the energy, passion and drive of their own founding story.
How does one keep from growing old inside? Surely only in community. The only way to make friends with time is to stay friends with people…. Taking community seriously not only gives us the companionship we need, it also relieves us of the notion that we are indispensable.~Robert McAfee Brown
I get asked a lot about the 3K plus twitter followers I have. It is actually not an awful lot ( compared to some other bossy pants people I know- I am talking to you Pamela Slim!. They ask me what tools and tips I use…and in all honesty I have to scratch my head a little confused.
I did not do anything different on line than I do in real life.
I try really hard acknowledge and SEE people. To encourage and support people and to value their voices. Mind you I am a raging extrovert so its really easy for me to connect and chat with virtual strangers. In my view there is no such thing as a stranger-just folks I have yet had the pleasure of meeting.
We all want to be seen.
Over the past few weeks I have seen this play it self out in many ways, but at its core its that very human need to be seen. Or should I say SEEN. In past blog post I have talked about the importance of acknowledging everyone in community. Loving them….welcoming them…seeing them.
There are three essentials to leadership: humility, clarity and courage.— Fuchan Yean
What does the future of leadership look like for the nonprofit world?
Off the top of my head the perfect recipe includes innovation and new thinking. It includes dialogue and appreciation. Cultural and organizational structures that are heavy on listening and learning, experimentation and failure.
Its flavored with less fault and more remedy, less ego and equal parts creativity and discipline. Rich with diversity of perspective and skills and flooded with new voices. It is adaptive and value based.
Ahhhh… I am getting a little teary-eyed just thinking about it
It leverages ideas, talents and new approaches to meet goals.
It is the experience of touching the pain of others that is the key to change…..compassion is a sign of transformation~Jim Wallis
Touching the pain of others…..such powerful words. How often do we allow the pain of others to enter us, touch us and teach us?
Not often enough.
Compassion is the ability to enter into a world that may be totally different from yours and feel what the others feel. To see life beyond our own skin, language and culture. It is related directly to justice.
Compassion is the slayer of ignorance, apathy and numbness.
It asks and invites us to step outside our own complacency and see what life beyond our tiny worldview.
