Like LeBron James: How do you get better?
LeBron James
Basketball star LeBron James out-performed himself again this season winning his fourth “Most Valuable Player” award.
The question is: How can he get better?
In nature, when you stop growing, you start dying. The sun rises until it begins to set. A peach grows until it begins to decay. In a nonprofit organization, if you aren’t growing, you will rot.
Too many people (often volunteers) quit growing but still hang on. They hang on to positions, titles, and committee chairs. The question is not: How do you get better? The important question is: How will you continue to grow?
By Shar McBee, author of “To Lead is to Serve”
Business Women in India Do It Differently
How do you speak to people about inappropriate behavior? A leader with the American Cancer Society had to speak to someone he supervised about bad behavior. He had been a volunteer in India and told me that business women in India had taught him a nice way of doing it. Before they berate, they appreciate.
Still, he resisted doing it and postponed the confrontation, but eventually he knew something had to be said. He didn’t want to approach the volunteer with his own righteous indignation. He wanted to communicate the actual issues, not his own anger.
“Before the meeting,” he recalls, “I contemplated what I appreciated about this woman. I listed all her great qualities and remembered the times she had been a fabulous volunteer.”
“It worked,” he exclaims. “It turned out to be a very successful meeting. Both of our concerns were covered and we parted peacefully.”
This was one of 5 tips I learned from 5 nonprofits. The other nonprofits are: Wellesley College, American Red Cross, Punahou School in Honolulu, and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. If you want to read the other 4 tips, they are posted on the Huffington Post.
Thanks, Shar McBee, author of “To Lead is to Serve”
The Boutique Owner That Snubbed Julia Roberts
Richard Gere & Julia Roberts
In the fourth grade, I changed schools in the middle of the spring semester. Neither the new teacher nor the students welcomed me with open arms. I felt like an outsider and changed from someone who loved school to someone who didn’t. The result was that my grades plummeted. It was a relief when the semester came to a close.
All summer long I dreaded going back to school. When the first day of class arrived that fall, I was a very timid ten year old opening the classroom door and looking around at a room full of strangers.
Then a miracle happened.
A little girl smiled and waved and said, “Sit next to me.” Her one gesture of welcome turned everything around for me. School was okay after all.
Today, that little girl is the owner of a famous boutique in Beverly Hills. Famous, because it was the one where Julia Roberts was snubbed in the movie Pretty Woman. (But remember, that was just a movie.) The owner, who treated me like gold, is Linda Kosser Afcharieh, and her boutique is Boulmiche.
I haven’t seen her in decades but I still remember her warm welcome. If you are involved in nonprofit leadership, you can learn a lot from this owner of a boutique in Beverly Hills. In the movie, she snubbed Julia Roberts. In real life, she made me feel like a pretty woman.
By Shar McBee, author of “To Lead is to Serve”
Happy Couples, NonProfit Leadership, Nips & Tucks
Barbara Kline & Kathy Bernard
2 Boomer Babes
At a time when many would be thinking about retirement, these two re-invented themselves by creating a local radio show which has now spread nation-wide. The lively duo is changing the rules about aging with their spirited talk show on AARP Radio.
The 2 Boomer Babes interviewed me on Saturday between a relationships expert revealing the secrets (including sex secrets) of happy couples and a plastic surgeon talking about nips and tucks.
Compared to that, nonprofit leadership doesn’t seem as exciting, but here are some of the questions that I answered on air:
- What do you do when you desperately need volunteers?
- How do you find supporters when you are fundraising?
- How do you get results when you are feeling overwhelmed?
If you’d like to listen, go to www.2boomerbabes.com. Thanks, Shar McBee
Conflict
Yesterday I asked a friend for advice. Here’s the situation: Someone treated me poorly. I was upset, mostly at myself for the way I was reacting. I don’t like it when I hold on to resentment.
This was her advice:
Conflict pops up when we think we have to approve of others insensitivity. Also, when we think we have to do everything all by ourselves. In the grand scheme of things, it is usually not all about us. There’s something bigger happening.
What do you think? Thanks. Shar McBee
Charity Sponsorships Available
Corporations will give away $1.7 billion or more this year in charity sponsorships. Jackie Norris, Executive Director of the Points of Light Corporate Institute, offers tips to nonprofits that want to find a corporate sponsor.
(2 min. video)
You can learn more from Jackie Norris in an article that I wrote for the Huffington Post. It also has 2 stories: One about a nonprofit that was successful at gaining charity sponsorships and one that failed miserably. Click to go to the Huffington Post.
Letting Go of Jay Leno
Jay Leno
What good is a goal? People set goals thinking that when they reach them they will be rewarded. But look at NBC letting go of Jay Leno. The network gave him the top spot, succeeding Johnny Carson. When he started in 1992, the show was #1. No one thought he could keep the show at the #1 position, but he did for 20 years. And how does NBC reward him? By replacing him. First with Conan and now with Jimmy Fallon.
I often see this in nonprofit fundraising. Susan chairs the big event, brings in a boatload of money, surpasses the goal, and the Board replaces her.
If YOU meet your goals, how will you be rewarded? One never knows. So, set this as your goal: to maintain inner balance. Whether you succeed or you sink, your happiness will not be disturbed by what other people think.
Shar McBee, author of To Lead is to Serve.
Leadership and Love
It’s Holy Week, a good time to talk about love. Love is something we don’t usually talk about on this blog, or in connection with leadership. But we should.
Love can do anything…and I mean anything.
A little boy was labeled mentally-retarded, and then grew up to be a CEO. He credits “selfless love.”
Selfless love invisibly supports people. It pulls them toward the potential within themselves. Selfless love is patient; it gives space; it allows people to become as great as they can be.
As a motivational speaker about nonprofit leadership, I attend a lot of leadership conferences. Nobody talks about love. (Maybe they are afraid of lawsuits? Who knows.) So I was amazed when Lester Strong told me this story.
In the 2 minute video Lester Strong, CEO of Experience Corps, a division of AARP, shares his story and tells 3 ways to be “selfless” in love. – Shar McBee
To read the full article in Huffington Post, click here: Why Volunteer with Children? Here’s why.
What Creates Abundance?
First, you have to get clear. There have been several times in my life when I was working on a project that I totally believed in, that I knew was right. I was completely clear about what I was doing and why.
Then one more thing kicked in that created abundance. I’ve talked about this before. Do you remember what it was?
Two things create abundance. Clarity and ?????
If you don’t remember, watch this video. It tells the story of a woman who couldn’t get anyone to help her on a project. After she did one little thing, she had all the help she needed. You can use this for your personal finances and for nonprofit fundraising. You can also use it to attract an abundance of support.
Watch “What Creates Abundance?” (3 min.) – Shar McBee
A Missed Opportunity
This is a guest post from Rebecca Henderson in Johnson City, Tennessee.
Join us!
Three years ago, I attended a fundraiser for a membership-based organization. It’s a great group; in fact, I was an active member for decades. Over the past 10 or so years, the group has hemorrhaged members for many reasons.
This fundraiser had the seeds of a platinum opportunity to recruit members. There was hardly anyone in attendance who was a member of the group. Nothing on the program, which barely mentioned the organization, gave information on joining it. Several people asked me if I knew how they could become members. I gave them the office number, so hopefully they called, inquired, joined and are now dedicated volunteers.
Do you see how easily this fundraiser could have also been used to recruit members? A brochure distributed at the door, with contact information, a table, comfortable chairs and a membership application for a “join now” option would have paid tremendous dividends, and for very little effort on the part of the organization.
(Rebecca is our first-ever guest writer. Please let her know what you think! – Thanks, Shar McBee
