The ability of technology to factor all these data points to progressively narrow our profile is remarkable and always becoming more sophisticated.

As leaders, we can benefit from this in many ways; but let’s not completely outsource to AI the responsibility for knowing our people.

Charity leadership is not less stressful than for profit, and in many ways it isn’t always more meaningful. But if you’re sincerely interested in exploring how you can play in part in trying to make the world a better place we’d love to have you.

Circumstances change. Things happen. Plans that made perfect sense no longer fit.

That doesn’t mean we have to throw away all the good pieces we’ve prepared, but it does mean we should be adaptable to current realities. That goes for consultants as much as for CEOs and EDs.

I get it. We all have too much to do and making the most of positive opportunities often means setting aside some of these longer term challenges while we ride the wave of momentum. Who wants to interrupt a good thing to deal with a minor irritation that might simply pass? Why draw attention to it when there’s so much good stuff happening?

My point is, someday isn’t going to arrive. In your family, your life, your leadership, your organization. We can’t do anything, or everything, but we can do something. But only if we do it Sooner Than Someday.

Honestly, it makes me kinda sad. I want to believe that with a sincere desire to address issues, some skilled facilitation, and a mutual openness to change, we can always rebuild trust and find a way to work together.

That may yet be true, but perhaps the cost is just too high.

Leaders are wise to consider carefully the role they, and their organization, are seeking to play in the process of change:

-Are you eager to generate as much energy and attention as possible briefly?

-Or are you going to do the longer work that gets less attention but often brings the final results?

With so many important and contentious issues surrounding us everyday, leaders need to get clear on how we seek to handle them. We have to decide what kind of influence we want to have.

Do you want to be a Provocateur? A Prophet? A Politician? Or a Persuader?

A lifetime of mastering how to propel a watercraft with a single blade paddle has given him unmatched insight and teaching ability. His analysis of the paddling stroke is phenomenal.

Just a few days later, I am seeing a dramatic difference in my performance on the water. I’m going faster, using better technique, and have the right cues to keep in mind so I can keep improving.

This can be a season for different thinking, for focussed learning, for connection that doesn’t have to produce immediate results. The natural world demonstrates health in seasonal rhythms where plants and animals behave in different ways that serve their life long sustainability. Too many leaders and organizations attempt to always be in rapid growth mode when periods of rest and strengthening what is already present are needed.

This is a great time to experiment with Productive Distraction instead of the all too common Distracted Production.

But for those who use it rarely, or who have not wrestled with (and resolved) our own relationship with power, it often feels like they’re working with the wrong hand.

Part of the challenge here is that we’ve seen values as only kind of important, helpful, but not absolute. We’ve let them be mushy and sometimes optional. We’ve been unwilling to have them cost us anything.

By the time we reach our second session, certainly by the third, I find myself slipping naturally into much of the style and tone of the group. Trust grows quickly and I earn the opportunity to challenge and confront with the sense that I am doing it as someone who is “on our side”, not as an outsider.

One of the things I enjoy most about my work is that I am able to customize programs, building from more then 30 developed workshops, and develop new content as needed to suit the specific situations and priorities of each charity I work with. I’m not forcing them to fit into my box or system.

Ultimately the board is responsible for everything that happens, or doesn’t.

But I now see that, more accurately, celebration is a skill.

No less so than reading financial statements, delivering a performance review, making an ask to a major donor, or putting together a compelling slide deck. It’s something every leader needs to be able to do, and it’s something that can be learned and developed.

Each year I choose a book I want to understand more deeply and invite fellow leaders to join me for a simple shared learning experience.

This summer I’m exploring Erin Meyer’s The Culture Map.

With most organizations having more staff working hybrid/remote and the realities of pandemic considerations and unpredictable travel logistics, high staff turnover, along with the ongoing shifts of generational change in the workforce, the way we did team retreats even 5 years ago just isn’t as effective anymore.

As legitimately frustrating as it may to see what things could and should be so clearly and have to wait and work towards it; we can’t get there from here unless we truly understand where we really are right now.

Plotting a course requires that we know not only where we want to get to, but where we are starting from.

I think every charity executive should have the experience of serving on a board. It will give you an understanding of the world outside your own organization, give back to the sector, and make you better able to interact with you own board.