In terms of successfully running an organization, does luck matter? Nonprofit leaders have tended to fall into a “Yes, luck matters” or “No, luck doesn’t matter” argument based on good fortune versus skill. Here, Mark Light highlights the more-often-than-not ignored relationship between so-called “luck” and privilege.
In this installment of his new column, Light deftly weaves together boiling frogs, libations, and our natural resistance to change, to discuss evolutionary and revolutionary tipping points. As he concludes, when contemplating an organizational change effort, keep in mind that “context is everything, and adapt your leadership style accordingly.”
PREMIUM CONTENT | This simple but elegant article from Community Resource Exchange in New York provides a format for in-the-moment self-coaching that will prove useful for most nonprofit leaders. Using a variety of situations as cases, it walks the reader through how to consider options for action and dialogue. This is another must-share, in that it could greatly reduce time wasted in needless drama and miscommunication.
Not only do nonprofits live in a world of risk, but at times it is important to acknowledge that risk fully and enthusiastically use it as a way to move forward.
This article, which is one in an NPQ series about networked governance, explores the role that fear, tradition, and serendipity play as unconscious factors influencing board choices and action.
The hands-on practice of impact investing has convinced this philanthropic institution to go all in.
Many NPQ readers will be familiar with the biblical sins of envy, gluttony, greed, lust, pride, sloth, and wrath. But philanthropy has its own set of sins. By being aware of these, and acting to avoid them, we can help ensure that philanthropy truly benefits the communities that it aims to serve.
The response to hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural disasters must incorporate both immediate and long-term engagement and rebuilding.
PREMIUM CONTENT | Taking an informed risk as a nonprofit is very different than living in the midst of uncertainty but the at the same time nonprofits can take steps inform themselves on risk they can prepare themselves to weather the far-end possibilities of an unpredictable environment. This practical article explains what those steps are.
PREMIUM CONTENT | Leaders understand that stasis can lead to devolution and that taking risks is a part of advancing social causes. How can this sector stop talking so much about containing risk, a legitimate but inadequate approach to the topic, and start to talk a bit more about how to engage and use it?
