Simple Questions
I am troubled by how little we learn from other people’s mistakes. Perhaps it is arrogance that leads us as individuals and leaders of organizations to think that we are smarter than others, we could never… But, truth is, the vast majority of us aren’t smarter than others, and we could do whatever.
There is no loss of stature or pride to say, “Oh, what a mistake that person/organization made. Let’s just take stock to make sure I/we am/are not risking making that same mistake.” The Read more
February 23rd, 2012 0 Comment Cruella d’executive Director
Those of you read my blog know that I don’t tend to run lukewarm or be ambivalent. Wishy washy is just not my style. (Though I am an extreme introvert, despite what others think, and thanks to Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, I can now easily muster the evidence to prove it; that is, if I want to talk.) If I don’t like something, you know it.
I’ve ranted before about underperforming boards, those that don’t know what they Read more
February 16th, 2012 2 Comments Red (or Pink) in the Face
None of us likes having egg on our face. Susan G. Komen for the Cure is currently wearing it big time. As they attempt to regroup from a series of recent blunders, we can look at the Komen example and learn from it.
First mistake: think very, very, very carefully before hiring someone who has recently run for, and lost, political office. Or, for that matter, someone who is stepping down from political office. Politics have never been for the weak-willed or mild- mannered. And while Read more
February 10th, 2012 0 Comment Who put the Moron in Oxymoron?
My sister’s second career is as a fifth grade teacher in a Washington, DC public school. She is just starting the unit on the Civil War, and this year, as she has done for the last four, she introduces the unit by talking about oxymorons. Each year, some of her students know what an oxymoron is; some don’t. She gives the usual examples, jumbo shrimp, good grief, sweet tart. This year, she found a new example that we both found quite amusing:
This time next year, Read more
February 3rd, 2012 0 Comment The Mistake Bank
Sometime after Newsweek and The Daily Beast joined forces, the last page of each issue of Newsweek is now “My Favorite Mistake.” Each issue some bigwig—from business, entertainment, even politics, talks about his/her favorite mistake that s/he has made along the way.
Sometimes, they have been game-changers in that person’s life, such as Paula Deen reluctantly leaving her home town of Albany, Georgia; other times, it was just a hugely embarrassing moment, such as Jeremy Irons, fixated on finding out when it would be appropriate to Read more
January 26th, 2012 1 Comment Might as well face it…you’re addicted
Several years back, a funder introduced me to a group of her grantees as the “bad cop” in the tag team which was about to do a presentation, a persona that continues today.
Call me what you will, but I am on a crusade to help you help yourself, your organization, your group move forward so that you can maximize the delivery of your mission.
Earlier this week, I had a 45 minute, heartbreaking conversation. And despite that, I played the bad cop throughout. Telling the truth, Read more
January 20th, 2012 0 Comment Don’t Squelch Happiness
There’s a happy face on the cover of the current issue of the Harvard Business Review. Never, ever thought I’d see that! It’s the come-on for the issue’s theme: happiness. Here is HBR, in many people’s minds one of the premiere business journals, doing a whole on happiness in the workplace: what makes people happy on the job, how happy employees work better, how happiness can increase the odds of being successful, how happy employees make for more profits, and more.
The idea is such a Read more
January 13th, 2012 0 Comment We Can Do Better
Here’s a new year’s resolution that doesn’t show up on the routine list of working out more, spending less , being a better person. But it should be one of the ones that you don’t break—ever.
Everyone must adopt a code of ethics and live by it, no ifs, ands or buts. I’m almost embarrassed to be writing this, to be suggesting that people in the nonprofit sector don’t routinely operate from an ethical base. After all, we are supposed to be the “good guys,” the Read more
January 6th, 2012 0 Comment Looking to the Stars
This is going to sound all wrong, but would everyone and their mothers, brothers, aunts and uncles just stop fundraising? Please!
I just went to my browser and there was a message asking me to join a bunch of celebrities and “do good for the world this holiday season.” Seriously? My browser is now doing fundraising? It wants me to give money to celebrities’ causes merely because they are celebrities? How dumb does my browser think I am? (Or, how dumb is the vast majority of Read more
December 22nd, 2011 0 Comment Lessons from Bloomingdales
Every year I give each of my nephews and nieces a Christmas tree ornament, from the time they are born until they get married. My thinking was that I didn’t want the first Christmas tree of their own to be bare or have cheesy ornaments or lacking sentiment. When they were all young, it was easy, as “age appropriate” ornaments abounded. As they matured, I did the hand blown glass ornaments, the themed ornaments, the sentimental ornaments. But each year, it has gotten harder and Read more
December 15th, 2011 0 Comment 