No one ever gets anywhere by following a formula.You get to the vision by investing in” the big messy idea”. That complex, new thinking piece of work that EVERYONE expects to fail. The big messy idea is actually a little…well…its actually a little scary.

People often join an organization due to self serving interests or relational reasons and become true believers in the organization after their point of entry- after that first volunteer experience or that first donation.

Knowledge is an asset, and it should be treated like any other asset . Its valuable and ultimately- just like money or any other property – contributes to the success of your organization.

The past two budget years have been really tight for many non profits. All the articles you read tell us that they have been expected to do more with less resources. Ummm… Hasn’t it always been this way?

Creativity takes courage. It means letting go of certainties for the unknown. We have urgent problems to solve, and we need creative people and organizations to do it. NOW. We have no time to waste; we must be fierce and original in our work in this amazingly complex world.

Because unsafe independent thinkers have always produced controversy, but they have also produced change. They have created movements.

Are the solutions that you are working on, the plans you are creating, the ideas you are hatching, the gifts you are contributing revolutionary?

One of the reasons people stop learning is that they become less and less willing to risk failure. John W. Gardner      John Gardner said a mouthful. There is something amazingly freeing about not pretending. About speaking truth, taking that huge exhale and letting...

Because knowing the TRUTH means we have to act. We work with real people with real challenges. This makes our work complex and messy and most days swimming in the “grey”. Projects that we think will take a year sometime take three. And knowing the facts, having that hard data at our fingertips mean we have to make hard choices.