Archive

"Is this normal?"

Why I went to Italy with a group of strangers

My Method, Your Madness

What are the hardest decisions?

The CEO is the Decision Machine.

And a handful of them will define your tenure.

What CEOs regret the most

Regret has surfaced in my conversations with dozens of CEOs, often unprompted. Most often, the regret is about a decision. I assumed that meant all sorts of decisions, from strategy to program to capital investments. But when I dug in a bit, I found something else. CEOs are four times

Who can (and can’t) the CEO turn to?

This week, I convened a three-day gathering of seven CEOs who lead associations of other nonprofits. Together, they represent 1,400 member organizations directly, which in turn represent over 50,000 congregations, chapters, and community centers. These are busy people, with large networks. Why did they come? I didn’

Why is the CEO role so hard?

No, seriously, I want you to think about it. You see, this morning I wrote down 25 reasons why the nonprofit CEO role is difficult. Before I share them, let your subconscious stew on the question for a minute. Because I request that you write and tell me what you

Your organization is not family.

"It's a beautiful thing when your organization is strong in purpose and the staff absolutely believe in the mission and see it as a calling. Many people…will talk about [our organization] as a family. And when you do business with family, we all know that can

Fortune favors the pre-decided.

Sami DiPasquale is looking out over a few buildings nestled between railroad tracks and the Rio Grande in El Paso. He is in the long process of starting a nonprofit called Abara, focused on immigration and people on the border.  Sami has a clear vision, a sense that he has

The CEO job is to be disliked.

Much of what we call “change management” is a way for the CEO to avoid being disliked.  This week, I talk with Jenn Petersen at World Hope International on The Nonprofit CEO Podcast. She was thinking about doing something scary: eliminating their only source of recurring revenue, a child-sponsorship

Trust: use it or lose it.

Nonprofit CEOs are always thinking about money—how to raise it, how to steward it, how to save it, how to raise it. (Yes, many seem to think twice as much about how to raise it as the other dynamics.) But money isn’t the most important currency in your

Trust: use it or lose it.

Nonprofit CEOs are always thinking about money—how to raise it, how to steward it, how to save it, how to raise it. (Yes, many seem to think twice as much about how to raise it as the other dynamics.) But money isn’t the most important currency in your

Your board is set up to fail.

Some months ago, I was talking with a CEO about nonprofit board dynamics. She said: “I think there is something fundamentally wrong with boards. They're more set up for failure than they are for success in the very nature of how they've been created.” Bingo. This

I'm sorry to hear that you have lockjaw.

Good news: you don't have tetanus. Bad news: you have another ailment. I started to see it while talking with Ann Graber Hershberger. She just retired from leading Mennonite Central Committee, the large international relief, development, and peace organization. When I asked her what parts of the CEO

Death by a Thousand Yeses

A few weeks ago, I was heading to the airport in Phoenix after a CEO event. I said to the CEO I was with, “One of the things that is shocking to me is the lack of organizational discipline throughout the sector. In a big organization, it seems like it

What I Want for You

It’s weird to have a totally blank slate for your vocation. What do I want? How should I contribute? What is my best and highest use? My last couple of years have included a lot of this sort of soul-searching, just like many of you. Where should I

Um...your timeline is showing.

At the start of 2025, I realized I was 25 years into my career. (Graduating in 2000 makes for easy math.)  I spent some time reflecting. Years at a coffee cooperative in Nicaragua, a college in western China, and a microfinance pilot project in South Africa. An MBA. Helping lead

The Path of Humiliation

Last summer, our daughter, Phoebe, was living in Indianapolis for an internship. She raved about this  local organization centered on art and neighborhood renewal.  She told us about Joanna Taft.  Joanna founded the Harrison Center and still leads it, 25 years later. In my experience, people in the arts are

Floating or Paddling?

When my wife, Christine, got her PhD, she found a role at a Wheaton College, about two hours away. She got the offer. (No small feat! There are not many jobs for cultural anthropologists.) At the time, our kids were at home and in school. I had a role that

What Are You, Actually?

Five and a half months into her role as CEO of Christianity Today, Nicole Martin sat down with her leaders.  “What do we do? And what would happen to the world if we didn't do it? What we realized in that moment is that we were doing five

The People Paradox.

“Ugh, people are the worst.” I say this sometimes to get a laugh. But it is something I believe, a truism. We humans are a messy lot. We are rude to each other. We are petty. We abuse each other. We rape and pillage and commit genocide. We even listen