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Non profit communication

Put blogs to work as part of your communications strategy. A blog can help nonprofits communicate information to members in real time through frequent, brief entries on your organization's Web site.

Nancy E. Schwartz, Editor and Publisher, Getting Attention

From the Nonprofit Good Practice Guide

Tag: Non-profit

Nonprofit Networking: The New Way to Grow

Author: Martha Lagace
Executive Summary:
How can a nonprofit increase its social impact? Many would say it needs to grow big to be strong. Instead, says HBS professor Jane Wei-Skillern, the answer could be in the power of strategic networks.

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Whether their mission is to protect wildlife, help disabled people, or offer financial services in developing countries, nonprofit organizations often believe they need to grow big before they can achieve significant social impact.

HBS professor Jane Wei-Skillern has been exploring something different: Her research suggests that a more powerful lever to increase a nonprofit's social impact might be to focus on building network relationships like-minded groups—even competitors. Read on ...

Quote

"No matter how much work a man can do, no matter how engaging his personality may be, he will not advance far in business if he cannot work through others."-- John Craig

Tag: Leadership

Executive Intelligence: What All Great Leaders Have

(Hardcover) by Justin Menkes

The final word on what traits make for highly successful managers - and a detailed explanation of how to identify potential standout performers. Executive Intelligence is about the substance behind great leadership.

Inspired by the work of Peter Drucker and Jim Collins, Justin Menkes set out to isolate the qualities that make for the 'right' people. Drawing on his background in psychology and bolstered by interviews with accomplished CEOs, Menkes paints the portrait of the ideal executive.

In a sense, Menkes's work reveals an executive IQ - the cognitive skills necessary in order to excel in senior management positions. Star leaders readily differentiate primary priorities from secondary concerns; they identify flawed assumptions; they anticipate the different needs of various stakeholders and how they might conflict with one another; and they recognise the underlying agendas of individuals in complex exchanges.

Weaving together research, interviews and the results of his own proprietary testing, Menkes exposes one of the great fallacies of corporate life, that hiring and promotion are conducted on a systematic or scientific basis that allows the most accomplished to rise to their levels of optimal responsibility. Finally, Menkes is a passionate advocate for finding and employing the most talented people, especially those who may have been held back by external assumptions.

"Executive Intelligence offers real insights into what differentiates the great leaders from the pack."

Kevin Sharer: Chairman, President & CEO of Amgen, Inc

"Executive Intelligence" is a breakthrough."

Noel M. Tichy, Professor, The Ross School, University of Michigan and author of Cycle of Leadership

"This will transform the way companies hire, promote and evaluate senior-level employees. It is nothing less than a revolution."

James M. Citrin, board director and practice leader, Spencer Stuart, and coauthor of the national bestsellers The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers and You’re in Charge, Now What

"Justin Menkes has provided a useful guide for helping to identify the people you want to bet your company on."

Ed Breen, Chairman & CEO, Tyco International Ltd.

"Menkes offers a stimulating analysis of an important topic."

BusinessWeek

Amazon from $13.94

Find in a library

Find in an Australian library

executive intelligence, leadership

Meeting Success Tip for the Week

The mover of a motion does not have to vote for it. Putting a motion on the floor is a techniqe to facilitate control of discussion and to focus the meeting on making that discussion productive.

Tag: meetings

Fundraising idea - button making machines

Button Making Machines - Make Buttons for Cash
Back when I was in junior high I was in a computer club and as part of that club we used this button machine to make money. While we weren’t very creative at the time in what we put on buttons, the idea is a good one. People like to wear around buttons that say funny things.

fundraising

Force For Change: How Leadership Differs from Management

Force For Change: How Leadership Differs from Management (Hardcover) by John P. Kotter

Leadership, Kotter clearly demonstrates, is for the most part not a god-like figure transforming subordinates into superhumans, but is in fact a process that creates change -- a process which often involves hundreds or even thousands of "little acts of leadership" orchestrated by people who have the profound insight to realize this. Building on his landmark study of 15 successful general managers, Kotter presents detailed accounts of how senior and middle managers in major corporations, in close concert with colleagues and subordinates, were able to create a leadership process that put into action hundreds of commonsense ideas and procedures that, in combination with competent management, produced extraordinary results.

John Kotter demythologizes the concept of leadership and clearly distinguishes it from management. In the process, he provides new guidelines for leaders and managers trying to optimize their relationships and effectiveness.

William H. Genge
Chairman, Ketchum Communications, Inc.

Full of powerful, useful ideas that will be of great service to those who have been struggling to define and assess leadership.

Thomas J. Mithen
General Electric

One not only learns from his book, but is excited by it. The weaving of research results and case examples is extremely effective.

Warren R. Wilhelm
AMOCO Corporation

More reviews at Aamzon where the book is selling for $21.95 new.

How Important Is "Executive Intelligence" for Leaders?

In response to the ninety-seven online comments to this month's question, it appears that Justin Menkes, author of the book Executive Intelligence, has tapped into a hot issue with his concern that the concept is underrated, under-measured, and under-experienced in the selection and development of leaders.

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5449.html#forum-summary

leadership

DO YOU HAVE THE QUALITIES TO BE A GREAT LEADER?

Do you have the personal qualities to be a great leader?

Leaders have

1. Flexibility. Leaders must be able to adapt to change, and have their organisation able to do so too.

2. Judgement. To be able to make the right choice at the right time

3. Courage. Courage is based on belief in one’s decisions, the courage to make a choice and stand by it, or to adapt to changing situations, and new information

4. Knowledge. A leader needs to have the knowledge necessary to do the job – knowledge of the technical side of the organisation and of the people. That knowledge must be kept constantly up to date.

5. Will power. To stick with choices and decisions and to see them implemented. And to be able to stay flexible and responsive to all inputs.

6. Integrity. The foundation stone for all of these is integrity. We all respond to integrity


leadership

Auction Tips - 5 Steps to Auction Success

There is no doubt about it; an auction takes a lot of work and commitment on many levels. Soliciting items for both the live and silent portion of the auction, also called procurement, is key to a profitable event. Putting together a powerful procurement team can help ensure success in securing donations and meeting event revenue goals. Whether this team is professional staff or a volunteer committee the same ideas apply.
The procurement team is a group of individuals who will be tasked with soliciting contributions for the auction. Ideally, the team will consist of people who have both the time and perseverance to contact potential vendors both by phone and in person for donations. Individuals who are both friendly and persuasive, and above all committed to your cause are most effective. It is also very helpful to engage members on your procurement team who are well connected in the community and have access to people with influence. Read on ...