Some wishes and some apologies

Well, Happy 2010 to all.

Apologies for the loooooooonnnnngggggg break in posting, but stuff has been going on here, not the least of which was a bout of breast cancer for my wife, Chris. Thankfully, she's had successful surgery and her prognosis is very, very good. Thanks to all who sent (or thought) good wishes.

One of my 2010 goals is to post much much more, including on some cool stuff I'm involved with regarding nonprofit innovation, the 3rd edition of Mission-Based Management, which came out while I was gone from this spot, and the 3rd edition of Mission-Based Marketing, which is half revised as I write this.

So, you'll see more of me here from now on, and I hope you tune in regularly. I've always got lots to say, and I'm six months behind!

The interesting article from today is about one of my favorite nonprofits, Teach for America, from the New York Times. I'm not quite sure what to make of the headline, except to say it seems misleading. Need to read the entire piece of research.

Books: I just finished SuperFreakonomics and loved it as much as the original. Strongly recommend it.

Back soon....

Mission-Based Management 3.0

In early March, I sent the text for the third edition of Mission-Based Management to John Wiley & Sons. If all goes well, the new edition will be out in the fall. I'm really pleased about the new content. In addition to updated stories, examples, and bringing the book up to speed for 2009 and beyond, I made two major changes in the theory of the book.

The first change was to add a tenth criterion to my Characteristics of Successful Nonprofits. Readers of either of the first two editions will remember that these characteristics laid the foundation for the rest of the book. The new characteristic, listed second after "A Viable Mission" is "Ethical, Accountable and Transparent". In the chapter on this subject I talk about not only the expectation for transparency and high values, but also how ethics, accountability and transparency begin inside the organization, between staff, between volunteers and between staff and volunteers. Placing this second after Mission, and before characteristics dealing with board, staff, marketing, technology, controls, strategy or finance, is intended to emphasize the importance of these issues in today's nonprofits. As I say in the book,

"The mission is why you do what you do. Your values are how you do it."

The second change is to ramp up the chapter on technology, and not just the content to catch up to changes since the Second Edition. Rather, I try to convey my deeply held belief that the future of philanthropy is in the successful merging of technology and mission. Thus, instead of just getting better at tech, instead of accepting that tech is here to stay, I labeled this characteristic

"Embracing Technology for Mission." And, that's what its going to take.

More on both of these issues in future posts, and I'll be previewing the entire book in posts starting around Labor Day.

Speaking of holidays, if you are here in the US, enjoy yours and remember those who have, and do, serve us so well.

Books, anniversaries, and Alliance

Back from a great 10 days on vacation, in NH with kids and significant others, seeing long-time friends, and relaxing on Squam. Much fun.

I read quite a bit, including taking a run at True North, the second book by Bill George, the author of Authentic Leadership. I'm about a third through and like it a lot. Authentic Leadership was very popular with my book clubs. I'll post more about this book when I finish.

In other book news, the 3rd Edition of Mission-Based Management is underway. I'm pumped about the update, and will post intermittently as I make progress and add new sections.

However, the biggest book news for me is that Generations has been awarded the 2008 Terry McAdam Award for "Best New Nonprofit Book" by the Alliance for Nonprofit Management. I'm really pleased and honored, particularly since the runner up this year is Forces for Good, which is an awesome book.

I'm headed out to the Alliance for Nonprofit Management annual conference in Dearborn tomorrow, do a half-day on Generation Change, see lots of great friends and, as a bonus, collect the award. The Alliance meetings are always a highlight of my year, and I'm looking forward to it.

Finally, today is Chris's and my 30th wedding anniversary. I have been SO lucky to have such a great wife and fantastic marriage...it certainly has been the launching pad for all my work....

I'll post from Dearborn....

Book Club Books worth a look

My book clubs are starting up again tomorrow for the January to June cycle. For the first set of calls, our books are:

Emerging Leaders: The Servant Leader, by James Autry
Advanced Leaders: The Wisdom of Crowds, by James Suroweicki

I love both of these books, and have recommended them to dozens of audiences over the past year or so. The Autry book is very, very practical. He describes his philosophy of servant leadership (you work for the people you supervise and serve them so that they can do their jobs) which I completely agree with, and then goes into very, very hands on applications of the theory. What do you do with employees who are having an office romance? What about an employee who is undergoing chemotherapy and wants to work, but whose presence is upsetting other workers? How do you lay off someone well?

Really good stuff.

Surowiecki lays out the premise that crowds (in most cases) make better decisions than a few experts. Through story after story he shows you that getting input into your decisions is worth the effort. I also agree with this, but it's important to remember not to just take a poll--as a leader you have to make the final decision---and live with it.

Excellent reading, and neither is overly long. The Servant Leader you can read easily on a snowy afternoon, or a long plane ride. Wisdom is a little denser, but just as fascinating.

Hiring, Hiring, Hiring

A lot of the news this week has been about current and looming worker shortages in industry after industry. I've seen articles stating that, for college grads, it's the best job market in 20 years. I've seen pieces about the shortage of nurses, aerospace engineers, teachers, hospitality managers, nuclear engineers, physical therapists, and on and on.

Of course, this means that we in the nonprofit sector are up against steep and deep pocketed competition for the best young people, because we have our worker shortage, too.

This was a headline that awaited me on Google News this morning(care of St. Louis Today):
"Want To Hire The Best and Brightest Members of GenY?" and it's all about making sure that for-profits emphasize their volunteer opportunities, their social good works, etc.

Hmmm. Seems to me that we can take this set of research findings, and run with them in the non-profit world as well, as we try to entice good people to make their career with us. We already have social value. We already are doing good works. But how many of our organizations encourage our employees to volunteer at OTHER nonprofits? If that's a big lure, we should look at it. Something to think about.

In other "news", I had a great week in Chicago and Fort Wayne speaking first on Wednesday at North Park University's Axelson Center for Nonprofits Annual Symposium, this year on Generation change . Thursday I was in Fort Wayne talking on Nonprofit Stewardship for the Nonprofit Resource Center. Finally, on Friday, I gave the annual Williams Lecture for the Foellinger Foundation on Generation Change. Very nice and responsive audiences in all three locations. Even got some press. Many thanks to everyone at all three organizations who did so much work to make my time in their cities so enjoyable.

And, speaking of employee recruitment needs, my wife Chris's retirement dinner was last night. 33 years in special ed in public schools draws to a close in three weeks.

First, a shout-out to her for a job very, very well done.

Second, some anecdotal data. Chris is part of over 31 teachers retiring this year from our small school district. That's an entire school's worth of experienced educators out the door.

And last year there was about the same number retiring here, and next year it's more...and this is happening in every school district (and every industry) all across the country.

All of which makes me feel we've got to get more kids volunteering and doing summer internships in our organizations in high school and college, to steer them our way early.

Can your users comment online?

One of the key ways that most people under 30, and more and more people of all ages, get their information online is not from an expert, but from something better: users and peers. I suspect that anyone reading this blog has looked at a review of something: a movie, a camera, a cosmetic, before deciding whether or not to purchase.

In our house,we always go to www.rottentomatoes.com before making a choice about movies. There we can look at both critics' and users' reviews. We don't always agree with the site's assessments, but usually we get good information. Same with electronics, books, even over the counter medication.

In his book "The Wisdom of Crowds" which is on group decision making, James Surowiecki argues that randomly selected groups of people (who are not under duress) will nearly always make better decisions than a few experts. Great book, by the way.

This, to me is the beauty of reviews, particularly when the reviewing site then averages all of the reviews into a manageable number...a number of stars, a number of smiley faces, etc. And, the net makes it easy, to both post such reviews and to see them.

So, here's my question. Is there anywhere on your site where people can post their experiences with your organization...in other words review your nonprofit? Can volunteers discuss their volunteer experience? Can end users talk about how polite and welcoming your staff are? Can donors rave about the giving experience. If not, why not?

More and more people are coming to your website before they come to your door.

And people listen to peers. So let those peers speak.

The next generation....

Sorry, not Star Trek, but I will use the term "engage", although it doesn't sound as good as when Patrick Stewart says it....

We need to engage our young people in charity, on all levels. While schools encourage/require high schoolers to volunteer, and college campuses overflow with opportunities to help, each family should look at ways to help their children fall into the good habit of charity.

Carol Weisman has the prescription and the how to in her terrific book:

Raising Charitable Children

This is a really good resource for your community, your workplace, your book club, your civic group, your united way or your family.

Check it out!

Blue Oceans and Better Managers

My book club groups just finished reading two good books, Blue Ocean Strategy, by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, and Manager of Choice, by Nancy Alrichs. Good books with significantly different intended audiences.

If you want to get hands on about being a better people manager (emphasis on people relationships) then the Alrichs book is your choice. Chock full of good advice, lots of checklists and to-do ideas, this book is very nonprofit oriented in its outlook that people come first. Good stuff.

On the other hand, if you are a big sky type thinker, then Blue Oceans may be your natural biome. This book talks about creating new space, where there is little or no competition. While certainly intended primarily for for-profits, I could not help but think of nonprofits like Habitat for Humanity, who changed the face of low income housing, and others that have followed (or should I say led) these ideas. Another good read if you want to be forced to stop and go "huh!" a few dozen time.

Oh, very apropos of the Alrichs book which talks a lot about online training; this week, TechSoup has an article featured about setting up and running online training programs. Good stuff as well.

Long time gone--again

Well, we are deep into the holiday season and i've been gone ever since thanksgiving--no excuse, but posting has gone down my priority list.

Time to play catchup.

1. Wall Street Journal last Monday had a long article about making good charitable choices for holiday donations. Nothing radical, but two full pages on WSJ space highlights the importance of, and the oversight on the issue. One of the criteria was, not surprisingly, transparency, and another was "Cost of fundraising" These articles are important for nonprofits to attend to, as they set the standard for many people who are trying to be more selective with their donations. So, if you are a nonprofit manager, pay attention. Here is one shortened (read: dumbed down) version of the article, but the full article is not available unless you are a WSJ subscriber....

2. I have long contended that Good To Great, by Jim Collins is the most important nonprofit management book out there--even though it is written solely about for-profits. Rumors have abounded that Collins was trying to take his deep research methods and apply them to find some magic in and for nonprofits. The rumors are true---but it was MUCH harder than he thought it would be.

The result of his efforts is a monograph available on Amazon called Good to Great and the Social Sector. I have it ordered, but have not received it...when I get it and read it through, I'll post a review.

3. Saw Boston University with Caitlin last week. She loved it, and is really excited about the Hospitality Management program there. Applications still going out....


More soon.

Long time gone

Gad. It's been more than a week since I posted. Time flies when you're busy. And, with a book deadline coming up, I only have so many words in me....

Been thinking about economic models for nonprofits more. I blogged about this a bunch a couple of weeks ago, and the more I consider it, the more i think that a more heavily volunteer model--even for SOME skilled jobs, is going to be a partial solution.

Read "Managing the Nonprofit Corporation" this week, by Peter Drucker. Pretty good. Our book club will be discussing it in a couple of weeks. I like Drucker's writing style, and his early insights into the sector.

On a more fun note, I read Kurt Vonnegut's "Man Without a Country" one afternoon (it's a short set of essays) and was reminded why he was my favorite author in high school and college. Warning: If you are political conservative, don't bother. It will just make you mad.

Back to work--oh, on a very personal note, my daughter Caitlin, who regular readers knows is applying to college, was accepted into the first school she applied to: Purdue. One down, six to go.

Book review....

I received a copy of Sue Bennett's great new book from the Fieldstone Alliance, The Accidental Techie; Supporting, Managing and Maximizing Your Nonprofit's Technology.

It is great. It has a broader audience than you might think, but is focused on those of us who inherit the tech roles in our nonprofits, and yet don't hold a master's in computer science from MIT. That's most of us. It is full of practical advice, checklists, worksheets and resources on the issues that vex most part time techies. For example, there is an entire chapter on tech protection...an area where many of us lose sleep. There is a chapter on funding for technology, and one on supporting tech users. Not only would this be a good book for techies, but also for executive directors who are supervising techies--there is a fair amount of explanation of the key issues that would be helpful even to nontechies.

This book is a must for anyone who dabbles in tech, or who becomes a techie because, in the words of the first quote in the book: "Since I knew what a motherboard was, and I had a screwdriver, I became the computer "expert" in our office."

This is a resource that I will both refer to myself and recommend to clients for a long time.

Two new books worth your time

Just finished looking through A Funder's Guide to Evaluation, by Peter York. Good tool for funders, but also for nonprofit managers, as it looks like a pretty reasonable set of expectations. Perhaps even something to GIVE to your funders!

Second book I haven't seen but have heard about, Forming Alliances, Working Together to Achieve Mutual Goals, by Emil Angelica and Linda Hoskins. I've heard both the authors and their prior works, particularly Emil's Coping with Cutbacks, are really good.

Check them out.

Authentic and Winning books

Had a good set of book club discussions this week. Liked both the books we read,

Authentic Leadership, by Bill George and Winning, by Jack and Suzy Welch. I thought both books have a lot to offer nonprofits. Our discussions of Welch's book were more controversial, simply because Welch is. A number of participants told us that they read the book with its cover jacket (which features a big picture of Welch) off.

I can't tell you which is better. Both are well organized, and if you like checklists, Winning is the better choice. Both run down a bit at the end.

But two books to put on your list, for sure.

Two books worth your time

This month, my book clubs read two books, both of which were highly acclaimed by the managers who read them.

The first is The Four Obsessions of the Extraordinary Executive, by Patrick Lencioni. It's a fable about management, with a self-assessment and some how-to's at the end. The fable takes about an hour and a half to read, and is very instructive. Good for all levels in your organization.

The second book was Career Warfare, by David D'Allesandro The book is ostensibly about succeeding in your career, but is really about becoming a good leader, and improving your organization. It's funny, and full of good ideas and great stories.

Both books generated great discussions, and are worth a look for you.