Leadership Insights | An Interview with Andrew Olsen from the Rainmaker Fundraising Podcast

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In this episode, you'll hear Andrew interview Doug on his podcast, The Rainmaker Fundraising Podcast.

Andrew Olsen is a #1 Best Selling author, speaker, and nonprofit marketer. He’s helped raise more than $250 million for nonprofits. With more than 20 years of leadership experience, he currently advises nonprofit leaders, boards, and development teams through strategic consultation, coaching, and classroom instruction. Andrew is a Senior Vice President at Newport ONE and instructor at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business.


Top 10 Leadership Insights from my conversation with Doug Smith

1. Leadership is influence.

2. Everyone is a leader and everyone has to grow to maximize leadership impact.

3. Leadership is about people. If the people aren’t better as a result of your presence, you’re not leading well. 

4. Leading is challenging. As John Maxwell says, “If you’re a leader, there will never be two easy consecutive days in your live.” 

5. If you wouldn’t follow yourself, why would you expect others to follow you? 

6. The power of “just relaxing” in your leadership.

7. Telling people what you think they want to hear isn’t leadership. You have to care enough to be candid, even when the feedback might hurt a little. 

8. In leadership, character trumps skill all day long.

9. The most influential leaders love people, but they don’t depend on being loved by people. 

10. If you’re going to grow as a leader, you’re going to have to take risks. You’ll fail sometimes, but that’s ok. That’s part of the process. There’s so much more in this episode than what I’ve outlined here. I guarantee you’ll get a ton of value out of this conversation today!