Though it’s been around for a few years, I’ve recently just learned of a concept that I want to share with you – humanistic leadership.

In large part due to the amazing folks I’ve met as part of my Certified Dare to Lead™ Facilitator status, I’ve had the great privilege of surrounding myself with colleagues I consider much smarter than myself including Angela Lehr and Susie Vaughan. These two professionals recently completed a research study interweaving humanistic leadership with the impact of the pandemic on grief and resilience. What they found was fascinating!

Read More “Putting the Human Back into Leadership”

Just a few weeks ago we “celebrated” the one-year anniversary of the day when much of America was forced to shut down. Where in 2008 came the Great Recession, 2020 offered the Great Pause… where much of the United States closed down operations for days, weeks, and months in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The months and year that followed included social unrest and a presidential election that felt like it was dividing us one neighbor, friend and family member at a time.

Part of my personal professional development journey often includes challenging myself with reading books by leaders in “other” sectors. You know, those business books not directly meant for we warm-fuzzy nonprofit people.Some of my favorites have included: You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader; The Five Dysfunctions of a Team; New Ideas from Dead CEOs and a recent favorite Creativity Inc.

Over decades of service to the nonprofit sector, I’ve come to inherently believe that most board members mean well. I have rarely met anyone – even the most difficult and divisive members – who set out to hurt the mission or the clients of a nonprofit organization intentionally. In other words, they have positive intent and hope for the success of the nonprofit business.

Do you remember how you felt this time last year? At the beginning of 2020, for me the possibilities seemed well… possible and hope seemed a reasonable assumption. But perhaps – if you’re like me – you’re starting THIS new year a little differently. Hesitantly and with caution, maybe? Hopeful but with trepidation, possibly?  Optimistic but cynical?

Let me first be clear… this is not a blog about how to survive a pandemic, battle social injustice or tolerate an ugly presidential election. I am not an expert at ANY of those things. I have struggled with each of those, like many of you reading this.

This IS a post about embracing your humanity in all its messy forms something that I have come to be well-worn in the last 3 decades of my life.

I’ve been running my small business for the last 11 ½ years. Somehow – by luck, hard work, determination, amazing support or a magic combination of all of the above – I’ve managed multiple clients and their projects, my own financials and payroll, marketed myself and our services through blogs, books, trainings…  all while raising a family, caregiving for my recently deceased mother, surviving a high-conflict divorce, maintaining a social and professional life, and somewhere along the way keeping my sanity.

At Connect For More, we’re extremely proud of our team members – seasoned and new. Each of them brings a wealth of professional expertise and personal perspective to our work stretching from fundraising, human resources, public relations, governance, program evaluation & strategic planning.

A little-known fact for most not within my family circle, I am quite the history nerd. I find history almost as fascinating as I do people. In fact, for me, history is often where I believe people often demonstrate their true selves – in hindsight that’s much easier to assess of course.

Connect For More is proud to be growing an internship partnership with the University of South Florida. This continues to be an important mission moment for us – continuing to connect rising leaders with the needs, passions, and purpose of the nonprofit business sector. What follows below is one intern’s unique perspective on their CFM team experience during the spring of 2020. Unlike other internship experiences, the highlighted professional below was part of our team for more than one semester. If you’d like to read more about her, please read her first CFM blog post here. Her internship was graciously supported by Allegany Franciscan Ministries in partnership with Wimauma Community Development Corporation.