I’ve tapped into a different kind of awe this week.
In my obsession with watching the Olympics, I’ve become fascinated by the near misses. By the skiers who must simply complete their run to win a medal, but who hit a gate or get going too fast to execute their final jump. Or the athletes who come in as world champions and leave without a medal.
Continue reading “The Agony of Defeat”I had plans to write about something else today.
But we’re “in the bleak midwinter” where I live, and I thought maybe a quick pep talk might be in order.
I’ve written about awe in detail before — what it is, why it helps, where to find it — so today’s message is simply a reminder to look for it.
Continue reading “Awestruck”I have a love/hate relationship with centralization.
It’s a tension I see all the time. In federations, what is the optimal level of shared service to be provided by the national office to gain efficiencies, while still maintaining local personality and autonomy? In community development, where does it make sense to amalgamate back-office functions while maintaining specificity of neighbourhood or cultural preference? In philanthropy, granting committees would rather receive a single, coordinated funding proposal than a dozen similar, disjointed ones.
Continue reading “Centralized Specificity”I work with a lot of nonprofit Boards of Directors.
I’m noticing that the ones I enjoy the most are the Boards who understand their role primarily as advancing the organization’s mission more than advancing the organization’s existence.
Continue reading “Collective Missions”At a leadership camp in high school, we played a game called “Win as much as you can.” The punchline of the experience (that obviously made an impact, because I’m telling you about it 40 years later!) was that the “you” was plural, not singular. The winners were a team, not an individual — much to the disappointment of the individuals who thought they’d been successful in their solitary pursuit of the victory.
Continue reading “Who’s the You?”