Millions of dollars are spent each year on professional development. People attend conferences, webinars, conventions, workshops, and buy books all in an attempt to become more knowledgeable and become more valuable employees. Learning matters. The more we know, the more effective we become. That’s easy enough to understand. But if we can all agree that…
Category: Leadership
Buying Ugly Socks and Answering For Donors
Last week I sat in a major gift donor prospect management meeting with a client and listened as a gift officer said, “What we know from visits and our research is that John (the donor) has the capacity to make a $5 million gift during our campaign. But I just don’t think he will give…
Make Yourself Uncomfortable
For most all of us, the reality is that we fall short of living out our full promise not because we fail in attempting something ambitious and important but rather because we simply get comfortable. Comfort comes in the form of familiar people, old habits, daily routines, and mindless decisions. In our fast-paced, 140-character, always…
Are We Really Interested In Building Relationships?
Last week our family enjoyed celebrating my wife’s birthday. She received gifts, cards, Facebook greetings, and good food over the course of a few days of celebration. She even received a handful of text and email messages. In today’s world it is simple enough for a friend or colleague to drop a quick text or…
Further Evidence on the Critical Role of Donor Engagement
In today’s development field the phrase, “donor engagement,” get tossed around like a football owned by Peyton Manning. Everyone uses it. But not many people pause long enough to provide any definitional specificity to the phrase. What do we really mean when we say we need to “engage” donors? And why is it really important…
Asking Too Early or Asking Too Late
Both are bad. But asking too early is worse. You risk injuring the relationship by signaling that you value the donor’s money more than the donor. And sometimes that is never repaired fully. When you ask too late you risk getting a smaller gift (you didn’t strike while the iron was hot). And you risk…
Where Is Your Strategic Focus?
Recently, I was in attendance at a higher education institution’s Board meeting and watched as an administrative leader at the institution rose to address the members of the Board. As she began her presentation on the progress to date on the institution’s Strategic Plan, she projected a huge S-W-O-T Quadrant onto a screen behind her…
Avoiding the Leadership “Comb Over”
We’ve all seen it. The older man, clearly going bald, with extra-long strands of hair combed across the top of his head. With a part beginning just above one ear, he carefully orchestrates these long hairs until their ends find their way somewhere near his other ear. The comb over. When we see it, we…
Are you “of” or “for”?
What is your title? Assistant Director of Annual Giving? or Assistant Director for Annual Giving? Associate Vice President of Development? or Associate Vice President for Development? Vice President of Advancement? or Vice President for Advancement? You get the point. Little words – even those we regularly gloss over – can have a big impact on…
You Don’t Get Better By Telling Positive Stories
How should you go about becoming a more productive development professional? How should your team go about becoming more productive? How should your institution go about becoming better at fulfilling its mission? Fundamentally, there are two approaches we can take to get better: Focus on weaknesses. We can home in on the weak links, the…