Nonprofit Management & Leadership Archives - Page 2 of 10

Accessing the ‘core muscles’ of professional balance

Posted on May 21, 2021May 21, 2021 by Todd J. Sukol

Just as success in sports requires balance, so too does professional success. Discover your professional “core muscles” and learn to use them.

Limitations of Nonprofit Professionalization

Posted on February 24, 2021February 25, 2021 by Todd J. Sukol

Professionalism in the nonprofit sector is a moral obligation. If our work is worth doing, it is worth doing with efficiency and accountability. I have argued over and over that there is no integrity in the nonprofit sector unless we manage our organizations as well-run machines. Waste in our sector is devastating, and all too…

Between Inspiration and Perspiration

Posted on February 9, 2021February 9, 2021 by Todd J. Sukol

Thomas Edison, whose remarkable mind turned discoveries into groundbreaking technologies, famously said that “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration.” Indeed, many of the world’s spiritual traditions warn that, as the New Testament puts it in the book of James, “..faith without works is dead.” From my own Jewish tradition, it is…

Make Peace with the Messy Middle

Posted on February 8, 2021February 8, 2021 by Todd J. Sukol

As a nonprofit leader you will often find yourself in the middle. The middle can be exhausting, with stakeholders on both sides pulling you in opposite directions or using you as an intermediary to telegraph their displeasure to the other. This can take the form of two powerful board members with opposing visions for the…

When is “enough” enough?

May 6, 2022

We work so hard to be the best we can be. To make our organizations the best they can be. When does our obligation reach its limits? Ours is a field where there is always something more that can be done more, or better. A system can be improved. A problem can be solved. A success can be made greater. Another dollar can be raised. Another beneficiary served. Another staff member assisted. There are so many pulls on you as a nonprofit organization leader – when is “good enough” finally good enough?

In truth, the real question isn’t “how hard” should we work, but “HOW” should we work. Please remember that there is a deep, divine spark inside of you. This same spark lives inside of every person, place, thing or circumstance you encounter. As a nonprofit professional and as a human being, your first obligation is to recognize, reveal and fan the flames of that spark in yourself and in those you work with. When you’re pushing so hard that your efforts no longer support this objective, it’s time to step back.

No matter how dedicated we are to the missions of our organizations, we cannot turn to our work for all of the meaning in our lives. You are uniquely special because you come from a divine source. We all need to step away from our work and take a break for spiritual and physical refreshment from time to time. We all need to remember and reconnect with the loved ones from whom we derive our identities and our strength.

Ask yourself: “In my work today, is my best self in the driver’s seat? Or, am I burning myself out by chasing “symptoms of success” rather than allowing my inner spark to express itself as I go about my work?”

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