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July 2024
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PERMISSION TO LEAD7/8/2024 ![]() I was in a consultation meeting reviewing the latest Strategy document of an organization that I'm collaborating with when I discussed the importance of leadership development as one of the capacity strengthening priorities.
One of the consultants in the room, remarked that "some people don't want to become leaders in the organization." That it's not for everyone. So I reasoned out that, we need to be mindful of the barriers and disincentives of leading when in fact, the culture is not supportive and rewarding to become one. I don't blame them. Leaders get shot at first or fired. They seldom get rewarded for what they did/doing/will do. Often times, the organization has unrealistic/unachievable expectations of them. There are many training, workshop, coaches, advisors, and audits to train anyone for a leadership role since high school, but a genuine self-assessment is a dime and a dozen. They eat last (Sinek) but more than that, they don't eat until the rest of the team eats. They are alone/solitary in their decision-making and personal development. It takes a whole amount of vulnerability, commitment to continuing learning and improvement, regular receipt of useful feedback and self-sacrifices and self-abandonment to become a leader. Yes, I agree, some would be great supervisors, managers, and directors without invoking to become leaders in the process. But I doubt, that being a supervisor or manager, will cut it in these modern and complex organizations we find ourselves now. Emergent models of business, structure, delivery, operational efficiencies, among others require not just great managers but a more enlightened, empathetic, and 'just-right' amount of leadership too. In my book: Provocateurs, I talked how well-meaning, intentional leaders can make a huge impact by being grounded about who they are and their willingness to share themselves with others. They lead from within themselves through their passion, purpose, provision, practice, and paradigms. In my opinion, this is a "Permission to Lead" situation. Managers must be permitted to lead by those they are closely working with and also permit themselves to become one. We have in our generation, the capacity riches (gazillion of tools and know-how), rationale, and wherewithal to become effective leaders. Our ancestors who had less in life, who fought in World War 1 and 2 and other wars stepped up as leaders, even without much preparation, tools, or even choice. They just did it. We have a choice to lead and it doesn't mean the top position/role in a company/organization/community. We can lead in our families, neighborhood, and anywhere where we can influence. It's a golden opportunity to grow and become a better human in the process. Take it with open arms.
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DISCERN NOT CONSUME6/3/2024 I have just subscribed to a news agency that purportedly says that it's just pure news, no slanted opinions or twists on a news story. If you really think about it, the social media and traditional media are feeding us with a constant barrage of one-sided opinions based on their political inclinations and predispositions. Confirmation bias and more polarization based on entrenched positions are already creating enough havoc on our democracy. There is too much consumption and very less on discernment. A few of my students used AI for an essay assignment. Some took the whole paragraph and pasted into their essays without understanding what they actually copied. I traced one paragraph to a Chat-GPT issued statement about "American Indians." They didn't know that a lot of ChatGPT-produced content is unusable. It wasn't coherent, accurate, and specific enough for many inquiries. Discernment is extra-rare these days. I would champion that everyone be more discerning, to critically analyze what they're getting from ChatGPT, do fact-checking, and use it with a grain of salt. Any human with a thinking brain should not only question the sources of any information but ensure that it is based on unassailable facts. If you care enough about your impact and the legacy that you're creating, it's better to be silent than to spread more misinformation around, unknowingly. Instead of being auto-pilot on consumption, have an auto-pilot on discernment.
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INTERNALIZED POVERTY3/11/2024 This internalized poverty mentality is pervasive in non-profit, purpose-driven space. The wages are way too low compared with other industries. There's no mentorship and workforce development within this sector. No investment in anything long-term. They are proud of Zero budgeting. A zero-sum competition exists between non-profits in smaller cities especially for funding. The skeletal staff is doing 2-3 jobs for a salary of one. The Board is always a hands-on board, sometimes meddling too much on implementation. Volunteers are used as second-level staffers. Funders do not trust them to develop their organizations, only to deliver the programs. I got almost into a debate after I spoke about the fallacy of 10% administration budget that funders would only fund. I reasoned that 10% is too miniscule to account for what non-profit needs to scale, grow, and build stronger and robust systems for the community good that they do. A woman retorted, " so Executive Directors get to pad their pockets with lots of money?" Is this really what we think about this issue? What a narrow, escapist notion that people will pad their incomes when given more money for administration. It's like saying that we should not build bridges and roads because the contractors get the best of taxpayers monies or that politicians get a kickback somehow. There's no future in this poverty mentality than more poverty, scarcity leading to bad, low quality, one-size-fits-all services that serve no one. This is the loop that should be condemned by everyone. The non-profit is in a crisis and it has been like that for a long time. If these structural issues continue, no amount of billion dollar funding can make it better, it could trigger a more dog-eat-dog scenario. Let's stop kidding ourselves that it will change when a new government comes, or when the funders will get an epiphany, or maybe, if we can just demand for reforms. No! this is a case for societal response to a major overhaul. And I don't think we are near fed-up which is what I hope so. |