Nonprofit Lowdown

So, fun fact: I've always secretly wanted to be a Navy SEAL.  Or a Marine.  Join me on today's pod with my friend retired Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Bill Wroten.   Here's a value bomb for you: You lead people and manage processes.  Once you talk about managing people, you've reduced them to processes and that's why they don't feel ownership. Boom!

How much of a pain point is hiring for you?  Are you looking to diversify your pool, make your process more equitable and inclusive and retain a diverse workforce?  Duh, aren't we all?  Join me as I chat with Anthony Barrows, Managing Director of Ideas42, as we talk about how they have redesigned their process to mitigate implicit bias.   For NYC-based nonprofits, check out their Behavioral Design Center. For implicit bias test, click here. For Iris Bohnet research, click here.

Today we're chatting with my buddy, Morty Ballen, who lived through the go-go days of charter school expansion.  As the CEO and Founder of Explore Schools, Morty oversaw the replication of three schools in an eight year period.  He shares his lessons learned (spoiler alert: it's the people!) and what is on the other side of leaving after 20 years of being the CEO.  Morty is humble, insightful and good-natured and I enjoyed this conversation immensely.  

Join me on today's pod as I talk with veteran nonprofit leader, Jane Martinez Dowling.  In today's chat, Jane discusses how her experience as a first-gen college-going, Dominican-American woman has influenced her leadership.  She's been in the top job in three different organizations and also touches on how to be a boss and a mom.  Spoiler alert: leave the guilt and judgement behind.  Jane was a joy!

Today, we're speaking with our resident Tech Goddess, Emily Hicks-Rotella about how technology and spirituality are connected.  This conversation is a little more whoo-whoo than others we've had so feel free to skip it if it's not your jam.  We talk about what it means to have a single source of truth, how technology can connect us to our purpose and clarity and how you don't have to go sit on a mountaintop to achieve peace.   Click here for more about Emily.

So. Many. Truth. Bombs.  This interview with The Ready's Sam Spurlin.  I reached out to Sam because I'm OBSESSED with the book Brave New Work by Aaron Dignan.  So often in organizations when things aren't working, when communication breaks down, when we're having meetings about meetings--well, it just makes you crazy.  Sam talks about how our approach to organizational change might be about identifying and fixing the operating system one experiment at a time.  We talk so much about culture, but culture is created by organizational operating systems.  Tune in to this very educational interview with Sam.

Usually, we feature episodes that help nonprofit executives to run their nonprofits better.  Today, we're talking with Clara Chow about her work in creating pathways to financial sustainability and a product that can help low-income Americans from falling prey to payday loans.  I've seen what financial instability and predatory lending practices have done to families.  Take a listen to Clara's take on how we can help hard-working Americans to access capital and build strong financial foundations. To learn more about this or to get into the pilot, email Clara here.

Today I'm chatting with Dr. Kerry Ann who was Founder of the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity.  As a young African-American professor, she founded her organization to mentor and support women and faculty of color in their academic careers.  We talk about what happens when it's time to move on from your organization and what life looks like on the other side.  Kerry Ann is wise, warm and wonderful.   To find out more about Kerry Ann's adventures, check out her blog: www.TheBestChapter.com

I'm so pleased to welcome back my friend Emily.  Today, we're talking about how small nonprofits that don't have a big IT budget or IT department can take steps to become more data-driven and tech-forward.  Emily will be a recurring guest so if you have tech/data questions, email them in at rheawong@gmail.com. https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-hicks-rotella-0b99a04

"I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man." Get ready to jump because we're setting this house ON FIRE.  Ify Walker is the founder and CEO of Offor, which is one of the nation's top talent broker agencies in the country.  In today's episode we talk about the war for talent, especially for leaders of color, how to find the courage to run your own company and change the conversation about race, access and getting to the C-suite.  Ify is telling the truth about building her business, creating power brokers and why you need an FU fund.   Find Ify and her team here.