top of page

What I've Learned

I have been working in the nonprofit sector now for seven years. When I took the leap to leave my position in a school system, I had very little experience navigating the networks of the nonprofit world, let alone the legalese required to build a 501c3. I had attended many annual galas and fundraising events and had volunteered for a few different nonprofits, but I had no real idea what working in this world would require. All I knew is that I saw an unmet need, and I wanted to be part of the solution. 


Naivety sustained me at first, but fast forward seven years, and there are a few important lessons I have learned that have both motivated and frustrated me along the way. Here are a few of those lessons. 


Being a learner will compensate for a lot of the unknowns.  


One person raising their hand in a crowded room to ask a question
What I've Learned: The Necessity of Curiosity

If you walk into any new endeavor with the assumption that you are the expert or that you should be the expert, you will fall flat on your face. Thankfully, I have always been a curious person (and a bit of a self-doubter), so when I decided to explore what it might mean to start an organization that supported educators, I spent the first year meeting with people, reading research, and listening to those I considered to be the experts. I had a concept of an idea, but I knew I was not the expert. If I’m honest, I’m still not an expert (and still a self-doubter). I rely heavily on my learner mindset to get me through the hard moments where the unknowns feel like barriers. Asking the right question at the right time has allowed me to jump hurdles I didn’t think were possible. 


Professor Sydney Finkelstein, a professor at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, says, in fact, that leaders who rely on being the experts can actually self-sabotage. He suggests that leaders who believe that they are experts stifle their curiosity and therefore their ability to innovate and create new pathways around obstacles, and they become overconfident in their problem-solving skills and, therefore, often miss the more effective solutions. Socrates described this truth by saying, “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.” Expertise can be, in itself, a barrier to the success of your organization (Beard and Nickisch 2019).


Just because nonprofits are not profitable doesn't mean they’re not competitive. 


Members of competing organizations coming together to work cooperatively
What I've Learned: Coopetition

Here is one that has frustrated me, honestly, even though I am a competitive person. Ethically and legally, nonprofits are not intended to be profit driven. While 501c3 organizations should not run a deficit and certainly should run a net positive budget if they want to be sustainable over the long term, the motivations for doing so are not to line the pockets of investors, founders, or shareholders. Naively, though, I thought that this reality might soften the landscape of nonprofit collaboration. However, what I have found is that nonprofits are prone to becoming territorial and sometimes sacrifice the greater good for the growth of their organization. 


I am not trying to put myself on a pedestal here. I can feel the urge to mission creep in order to become the one-stop shop for educator’s needs. I want to be the organization school districts think of when they ponder how to best support their educators and develop healthier staff cultures. However, what we cannot do is let our desire to grow our organization risk our intended mission. Mission creep and competitive territorial marking are why we end up with inflated nonprofits who grow at unsustainable rates, and it’s why we have too many nonprofits trying to do the same thing, gobbling up resources from each other, rather than learning and collaborating with each other. Shedding my desire to win is a consistent frustration, but it is one that I know I must practice if I truly want what is best for students, educators, and our education ecosystem at-large. 


In a world of influencers, I would rather be an impactor. 


Sea captains steering the boat towards the horizon
What I've Learned: Stay the Course

You have likely heard of Frederick Douglass. As an English teacher, I used to teach his autobiography as both a mentor text and a view into the brutality of slavery. His impact on the abolitionist movement is felt even yet today, and his legacy is honored in religious, academic, and governmental institutions. To grow up in the United States and not know Frederick Douglass is a rarity, but what about Octavius Catto? If you’ve never heard his name, you’re not alone. 


Catto was a Presbyterian minister, born of a freed slave, who worked tirelessly with Frederick Douglass during the Civil War to support the cause of the Union. After the war, he was a key part of the movement to secure the passage of the 15th Amendment. Catto was also successful in desegregating the streetcars of Philadelphia and was a strong advocate for education for black youth. Tragically, during his work in the 1871 election to ensure the vote of the black citizens of Philadelphia, he was shot dead by a white man. In the end, though, Catto’s legacy of advocacy and impact on the city of Philadelphia and beyond can still be felt, even though he is often an asterisk in the history books (Ward 2008).


There are few who get to be both the influencer and the impactor. Douglass was one. The rest of us, well, we may have to choose like Catto. According to surveys of Gen Z students (those born between 1997 and 2012), the number one desired occupation that shows up for both male and female students is to be a social media influencer. The pull to be known is strong, but in a world where we might have to choose between being known or being impactful, I would choose impactful every time. After all, which is more important, that people know who you are as the leader of your organization or that your organization is fulfilling your mission effectively? 


Maybe what I have most learned is that if I want to be an effective leader, I am going to have to continue to lean into the humility of knowing that success can often be quiet, unassuming, and slow. My greatest lesson I have learned as a parent is that parenting is a constant dying of self, and I think leading a nonprofit is similar. While we don’t need to give up taking care of ourselves–that should always be a priority–, we must shed the weight of our own inclinations for power, fame, and status to focus on the heart of our work. In the end, I hope, truly, that people speak about what our organization has done before, or even instead of, who we are. After all, it is the what that changes the lived reality of educators, students, and communities, and that is why we do the work. 



Beard, A. and Nickisch, C. (Hosts). (2019, April 16). “Avoiding the Expertise Trap” [Audio Podcast]. HBR

IdeaCast


Ward, D. “An American Tragedy: Octavius V. Catto.” The National Portrait Gallery. March 12,

Comentários


Featured Posts
Recent Posts
Archive
Search By Tags
Follow Us
  • Facebook Basic Square
  • Twitter Basic Square
  • Google+ Basic Square
Logo for Opportunity Thrive, Teal logo, Black Text

"If the essential core of the person is denied or suppressed, he gets sick sometimes in obvious ways, sometimes in subtle ways, sometimes immediately, sometimes later." 

- Abraham Maslow

© 2023 Opportunity Thrive, Inc.
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
bottom of page