What do workers need to succeed?
A food bank volunteer doesn’t know how to lift a heavy box safely.A farmers market vendor can’t remember how to process a SNAP transaction.A board… Read More »What do workers need to succeed?
learning
From Stuck to Engaged: Why Engagement is a Design Problem
I went down a rabbit hole, and what an interesting rabbit hole it was. It started simply enough. Board leaders and executive directors asked for… Read More »From Stuck to Engaged: Why Engagement is a Design Problem
Can you put that in a graphic?
On Monday, February 24, 2025, the National Council of Nonprofits shared a timeline of actions they had taken in January and February. I love everything… Read More »Can you put that in a graphic?
Take time to define the words that matter
In 2021, Anne Wallestad wrote “The Four Principles of Purpose-Driven Board Leadership.” In 2022, Hubert Joly wrote the HBR article “5 Principles of Purposeful Leadership.”… Read More »Take time to define the words that matter
Learning styles are a myth… and why it matters to nonprofits
There’s so much magic at the intersection of adult learning and nonprofits. We can unlock our teams’ full potential when we look at how to reduce… Read More »Learning styles are a myth… and why it matters to nonprofits
Reflections for Association Learning Leaders
Association learning leaders are poised to come out of the pandemic with a deeper and broader strategy that moves the needle on what matters. Here are five elements of that strategy to pay attention to.
The Case for Graphics and Design
“It don’t care what it looks like. The content is there.”“I’m not good at graphics. I use PowerPoint templates to create a slidedeck.”“I’m a bullet-point… Read More »The Case for Graphics and Design
Stairs, ramps, and curb-cuts: Designing for everyone
If you were constructing an entrance to a building and were resource-constrained, would you build stairs or a ramp? Stairs make the building accessible to individuals… Read More »Stairs, ramps, and curb-cuts: Designing for everyone
Communication and learning
Regular readers of this blog know that I use this space to think out loud. It is where I take shards of a theme that… Read More »Communication and learning
“The future is something we build in the present.”
Brazilian educator and sociologist Paulo Freire wrote in Pedagogy of Hope: “Through the process of reflection, individuals may become conscious of the realities other than… Read More »“The future is something we build in the present.”
Push less dirt, Lift more rocks
Two years ago, my family bought land north of the city. Laboring with hand tools quickly proved futile, so we acquired a tractor. The tractor’s job is to push dirt around to flatten the land for a future orchard. The challenge is that the dirt is filled with large rocks, glacial erratic boulders to be precise, so it is hard to push that dirt around. It would be a lot easier if we could grab the boulders from above and pull them up and out of the dirt.
Five Years Later: Lessons from FUN
Finance Unlocked for Nonprofits (FUN) launched five years ago this week at the Washington State Nonprofit Conference. We shared the five buckets of basic nonprofit… Read More »Five Years Later: Lessons from FUN