Can You Dance?
I admire great dancers — if not for their skill, at least for their self confidence (and yes, from what I see sometimes, they have a lot of self confidence!)
Yet learning to dance is an attribute required of many careers — especially fundraising.
No, I don’t mean whirling your partner across the gala’s dance floor. I mean “dancing” through the solicitation process — keeping balance while your colleagues, volunteers, and prospects spin out of control around you — and yet still landing on your feet, gift in hand.
Is this a career lesson? Big time. There are a huge number of variables in a charitable gift solicitation. Yet a skilled fundraiser gets through each using multiple “moves” that look like ballet to the uninitiated.
So work on those moves, so that next time you get to that special event, you’ll have some fun and dance!
My Cat: The Ultimate Volunteer
I’ve lived with enough cats to know the good and bad of them. Each has a personality — for better or worse — and the cat we have now is the quintessential volunteer.
Our cat, aptly named “Princess,” is not happy doing anything she’s forced to do. (Ever try putting a cat into a cat carrier?)
Princess CAN be coaxed into moving in the direction you want her to go (food works well).
Princess will disappear for hours on end, only to show up when things get interesting (like when someone shows up at the door).
I could go on, but what I’ve found is that our cat makes me a better manager of volunteers. There’s no “commanding” volunteers — only attracting — I need to make things interesting, and having food always helps.
What can you learn from having your pet that makes you a better nonprofit manager? Scratch them out to me at matt@FundraisingTalent.com.
In the Doghouse
Have you ever been in a doghouse? Have you ever crawled in and actually looked inside?
Funny, we all probably have a mental image of a doghouse — thanks largely to Charles Shultz and Snoopy. Snoopy had it pretty good. When he wasn’t on top fighting the Red Baron, he was inside a luxury apartment. Charlie Brown wouldn’t have it any other way. But when was the last time you actually saw — let alone actually were inside — a real dog house?
Most aren’t insulated, so in the summer they’re hot, and in the winter they’re cold. They’re usually smelly (a dog smell, who ‘da thought!), and while many are painted on the outside, they’re not painted on the inside. After all, would the dog notice?
Each of us knows what it’s like to be “in the dog house.” Yet dogs don’t see their dog house as punishment. They see shelter from the elements and refuge from threats.
The career lesson? How you and I react to being “in the dog house” telegraphs a lot to our boss and colleagues. Are you chastened and contrite, angry and arrogant? Is it an opportunity to improve?
It’s your choice — being “in the doghouse” can be hot, smelly and ugly, or like Charles Shultz made it for Snoopy — you can make it into an opportunity.
The Perspective of Travel
I’m sure you’ve heard someone say “travel gives you perspective.” If not, let me tell you now that it’s true. Not long ago I returned from a quick trip to Uganda. Yes, a quick trip halfway across the world. I was teaching there for Eastern University’s Master’s Degree Program for NGOs. It’s not the first time I’ve been to a developing country. While they’re all unique in their culture and approach to life’s basics, they all have unfortunate similarities too, starting with poverty.
Yet on this trip I was introduced to an NGO that’s doing a pretty good job of giving people the skills they need to break the cycle: Beads for Life. I’ll leave it to you to check out their work at www.BeadsforLife.org, but from my eyewitness account I can tell you that it’s working.
Women who benefit from Beads for Life make a career transition that you and I could never imagine. Hundreds of women who live in “unimaginable conditions” by our standards are building their own businesses and finding jobs — and many are saving enough to buy their own homes. (Would you cry tears of joy if you bought a three room house made of one layer of rough bricks sharing a common well with 25 other families? They do.)
Yes, we have it good. But that’s not the point. The lesson here? If THEY have the resourcefulness to move from absolutely nothing to owning their own home and business, just think of what YOU can do with the resources you have at hand.
Yes, travel gives you perspective.
Is There a Story in that Bag?
A videographer friend of mine, Rich Tolsma, put out a promotion piece that I know surprised even him in its popularity. It’s an orange tote bag. It’s a bit different than most tote bags. It has a mesh side pocket with an elastic top to hold a water bottle and is a bit slimmer — about the width of the ubiquitous conference binders and give-aways that you get wherever he distributes the bags. But I think what really makes them distinctive is his tagline emblazoned on the side: “What’s your story?”
Rich knows the power of stories. Telling stories is his job.
If you’ve read my piece, “It’s a story about a man named Brady…”, you’ll know that I agree. Stories are what drive people. This isn’t a new phenomenon. Actually, it’s an ancient one that we’ve simply adapted to our new technologies. Think, what are the oldest stories you can recall? Shakespeare? Beowulf? Moses and the Exodus? The Trojan Wars? Telling stories has been with us forever — since humans began to walk the earth. It’s just the devices we use to tell those stories that have changed — from making shadow puppets around a fire as the sun sets, to scrolls on papyrus, to paper books, to high definition videos.
So what’s the career take-away on this? Yes, know your story. Be able to tell where you came from, where you are, and where you’re going. Put in a few short words about why you’re looking for something new. But then think of how you’re telling it. On a resume, in an interview, or maybe on an orange conference tote-bag!
