Our best leaders are those that aren't afraid to
take a delicious risk. Mary J. Blige has a hit R&B song out right now called,
"Work That" and I think it offers some encouragement for young people trying to find their way in the nonprofit sector. The new nonprofit leaders are
definitely not the prototype of the current leader, but we bring a lot to the table. In fact, the next generation looks, thinks, and acts differently than your average Baby Boomer executive director or board member. We're younger, more racially diverse, and have more formal education than our predecessors. So no wonder it's so difficult for us to find our place, our leadership roles within a sector that is changing before our very eyes. For many of us, it seems like the system's already been established - to be a leader, you need X years of experience, you should be 4o years old, you've got to work your way up the ladder,
you have to be a good martyr for the cause. It's hard for us to make our own rules to the game of leading social change. We have the same dedication as those who started so many successful social change movements in the ‘60s, but somehow we make it harder to lead than it really has to be. First and foremost, we just need to be ourselves.
Last month, I
launched Thurman Consulting, with no expectation that I would have any clients for the next five years. OK, I'm exaggerating, but honestly I didn't think anyone would call me to do anything for a while. But fortunately people have been calling me for projects, and I've been enjoying training and educating folks on all the challenging nonprofit management areas other people hate that I study for fun. The universe responds. And last week I had the opportunity to train the board of directors for
Words Beats and Life on how to ask individual donors for contributions. The first thing we talked about was why each board member had gotten involved. I can't tell you how amazing it was to hear each person around the table explain how excited they were to be involved with the programs and being a part of change in the lives of youth. These dozen young Black professionals volunteering after work for a cause they all believed in was so real to me. It felt natural to me to be facilitating the conversation and helping them learn to harness that passion and turn it into fundraising results for the organization. In that particular hour, I was working what I had to help others.
I've been learning the hard way that it doesn't make sense to fit yourself into the roles other people make up for you. If your passion is in the arts, don't fake it 'til you make it at a scientific association. If your heart is in advocating for women's issues, that's where you need to be eight hours a day instead of at the environmental gig you took right out of college. As young people, we may not bring 20 years of experience to our leadership roles, but we all wake up in the morning with passion about
something, and we need to work that.
Don't try to be a superwoman for the nonprofit sector. Instead, do what you love and be authentic in your work for social change.
I meet young people in the nonprofit sector all the time who are struggling in their current jobs. They're not doing what they really came to the nonprofit field to do, not getting paid a fair salary, not being given the chance to make a real difference in their work. I try to remind them that we always have a choice of where we spend our time. Sometimes, all we need to do is speak up. Sometimes we need to quit our job and find another one that fits our more authentic selves. There's nothing stopping us but ourselves. Ask for a raise. Get your job title changed. Switch departments. Whatever it is that you want to do, just be real about it and get persistent about changing yourself so you can change the world.
Rebecca Thorman thinks part of the problem is that
we need to stop being so nice, and I wholeheartedly agree. As young people, sometimes we can be too quiet, even when we see things that are unjust and need to be changed. But we need to remember that it's OK to get disruptive so we can help make things better.
I recently had the pleasure of seeing
Geoffrey Canada speak at a Washington Grantmakers conference in DC. I had seen him on Oprah and heard so much already about how his leadership of the Harlem Children's Zone has transformed an entire community. But what what struck me about his speech was how
authentic it was. Here he was before a room full of funders with pocketfuls of cash and he really wasn't speaking on behalf of his organization, and there was no framing, no "spin" of the issues to the point of a meaningless yawn of organizational babble that so often comes out of the mouths of current nonprofit leaders "on behalf of the board of directors". No, here was Geoffrey talking to us as a passionate advocate for children and families in need of good education and a fair chance in life. So much of his personality and committment shone through an hour of inspirational words. For me in that moment, Geoffrey was working what he had to help us see the need for us to focus on educating our children the best we can. He was using his own personality and bringing his entire self to the speech he gave us. In a society rife with lies, non-reality TV, airbrushing and constant "spin, we all can smell bullshit a mile away. But here was a man sharing his truth.
Authenticity is a key characteristic of a true leader. We can all rally others for a cause that's bigger than us by sharing our passion with others. Don't try to be somebody you're not. Work what you got, and give your best to the nonprofit sector. That's all we ask for.
Don't worry bout who's saying whatIt's gonna be fine
Work what you got
Work that
Work that
Work that
Girl don't hold back
You just be yourself
Photo by macwagen
