“Don’t work yourself out of a job!” This was a typical refrain from a world which no longer exists. Some people, though, continue to think and behave as if it does. When work was primarily about mass production – be it producing cars, steel, widgets, or even paving roads – workers routinely exercised “workplace governors”…
Category: Leadership
Objects or Individuals
Some gift income reports I’ve read use the term, “giving units,” to describe donors. I’ve never much liked that terminology. Too cold and objectifying. Recently I read some fascinating research on community college presidents completed by Matt Thompson, a good friend and thoughtful higher education leader. Matt’s research re-introduced me to the concept of verstehen…
Gratitude Is Not Enough
A regular annual fund donor sends in a gift – a check for $1,000. Your organization promptly produces a gift receipt and sends a letter (either hard copy or electronic) expressing gratitude signed by the appropriate staff person. Is that it? Is that all that happens? Despite all the talk about “engaging donors,” I’m afraid…
The Homeostatic Principle At Work
Homeostatis is the biological principal which suggests that living organisms will maintain a stable, constant condition. And we humans do this well. We see this principle at work in easily-recognized statements such as, “we’ve always done it this way.” Or, “I’m going to do what I’ve always done and let someone else worry about it.”…
Lead Out of Control
The most common question I get regarding performance-based metrics is, “what should we be counting?” Is it visits? moves? phone calls? dollars raised? number of proposals submitted? etc. And while I can make a well-reasoned argument as to why a particular set of metrics will be more powerful in predicting success than another, I can…
An Arm’s Reach Away
Science has educated us on the term “in vitro” – which means to conduct work not in a living, whole organism but in a controlled, sterile environment. “In vitro” became part of our lexicon because of its use in reproductive science. The so-called test tube babies. On the other hand, we have heard less…
What if. . .
What if. . . instead of spending the time, energy, money, and effort on developing the “right messages” and the “best marketing practices” for our organizations we focused on becoming a more helpful resource to those we aim to serve. What if. . . instead of “telling and selling” our donors, we listened to their…
10 Characteristics of Authentic Development Pros
We all know the negative typecasts we struggle against: Development professionals are posers. Development professionals are paid to party and play golf. Development professionals don’t really do anything. And, of course, there are some development professionals who, unfortunately, fit these typecasts (although none who read this blog I feel sure!). But most development pros are…
Educating HENRY
Do you know HENRY? Better yet, are you educating HENRY? HENRY is an acronym, first coined in a 2003 Fortune magazine article. It stands for High Earner, Not Rich Yet donors. Typically, HENRY donors are early in the major gift cycle, somewhere between 35-50 years of age. They make $250k+ per year. Their kids attend private…
Taking The Time To See
“The pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has not vision.” – Helen Keller Leadership, regardless of title, evidences many characteristics. Perhaps the most important characteristic is having vision – the kind that Helen Keller speaks of in the above quote. Having vision means having a picture of how your advancement…