Work With Me: Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders

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Notes on slide 1

The bad news – quotes from my blog about low salaries

The bad news – quotes from my blog about low salariesLow payLong hoursLack of preparation for leadership posMany young leaders are trying to develop themselves through additional training or finding mentors to help them in their nonprofit career, yet I have heard time and again about how they often get \"blocked\" by their bosses from doing it. One young woman asked her boss for permission to attend a free federal grantwriting seminar, because she knew it would help the organization later as she advanced in her job. Her boss not only told her no, but said it was because the training would be \"over her head\" and she wouldn't understand anything. I couldn't believe that in a sector where we are helping people, there are some folks who are so \"threatened\" that they are preventing the development of future leaders.

Here’s the upside – “Where is this supposed lack of leadership? We're all here. And we're ready. We're ready to take over when you're ready to retire. I wonder if it's more of a disconnect between generations and a difference in leadership styles than a lack of leadership.”

The generations – shifts, tension

Many of you may know that Friday is the Anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr’s death in 1968. What many people don’t know is that Martin was only 26 years old when he led the Montgomery bus boycott that helped to change the future of this country.

I grew up in the public housing projects of Cleveland, Ohio, which has always been an area with no jobs and no hope for the people who live there. My mother was a single teenage parent and my father was a drug dealer.

Let’s face it, the sector’s not going to change. So I’m not going to focus on things we need to do as a sector – we all know we need more funding, more community and government support, there’s a huge issue with student debt plaguing our recent grads coming into our organizations. I want to talk about what each of us can do here within ourselves, within our organizations to change the tide on preparing the next generation of leaders.

I want to come back to the image I used on the title slide. This guy is rowing off into the far off sunrise...all by himself. I don’t know much about rowing or water, because I can’t swim and I’m deathly afraid of drowning, but it seems to me that he might get a lot farther if he had some help. The sunrise in front of him is a beautiful sight, but it will take him longer to get where’s he’s going by being all along in the boat. Let’s not tackle these issues all alone, by ourselves in silos, grumbling to ourselves in our own organizations. All of you here can make a commitment to continuing the dialogue today and beyond this room, into your own organizations. By helping each other along the way, I know we can turn this thing around and benefit from incredible new leadership that will change this world. Thank you.

My family was poor. We were so poor that every year, a woman from a local nonprofit program called “Clothes for Kids” would come and take me shopping for school clothes becausemy mother could not afford to.

Fast forward through grade school and many kind teachers, afterschool programs and special enrichment classes and I became the first person in my family to graduate from college.

But I kept coming to visit the same projects where I grew up and life never seemed to be getting any better. There was always this tug that kept getting stronger and stronger that I had to do something to turn this thing around.

That feeling is what led me to volunteer at local afterschool programs as a reading tutor for Blackkidsliving in poor neighborhoods during all four years of college. It was philanthropy that had provided me an enhanced education as a child. It was nonprofits that had come to my family’s aid when we couldn't make ends meet. It was philanthropy that had helped me in my life, and I wanted to help someone else. That's how I got introduced to the nonprofit world and have known that's where I am called to do my life's work ever since.

My first nonprofit job was with a community development organization where I was a grant writer to raise funding to renovate old buildings for community use such as the East End Teen Center in Richmond that’s pictured here. I tell my own story because many next generation leaders came to work in the nonprofit sector because of personal experiences. We have seen so many failures of our society to take care of our most vulnerable citizens, of our democracy to represent our values, of our corporations not exercising the appropriate responsibility for their actions. We are still living in a country where children go to bed hungry, where millions of people can't even go to the doctor because they don't have health insurance, where we are stillfighting a war on drugs with no end in sight. Chances are, we’re all here because we are compassionate witnesses of social problems and we want to do something real to make this country a better place. And the passion for our organization’s mission is what keeps us all here, despite the challenges we face that we’ll talk a little bit about here.

I hope many of you came in here today with questions. That’s how we’re going to flow through today – answering some of the questions that nonprofits are grappling with all over the country right now. We’re in Boston, but the next generation of leadership needs attention in every city in America.

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Work With Me: Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders - Presentation Transcript

Work With Me: Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders
My Personal Journey
Along with myself, 75% of nonprofit professionals feel their work is personally fulfilling... But there are some serious challenges facing the next generation of nonprofit leaders.
Agenda Who Are Next Generation Leaders? What Are the Challenges? Where Are Our Opportunities? How Can We Help Each Other?
Next Generation Leaders Not all generational, not limited to under 30 Recent grads, mid-level professionals, senior managers, directors, coordinators, assistants Possess desire and commitment to take on leadership positions in the sector Already developing themselves and looking for the next step in their nonprofit careers
75% of Executive Directors plan to leave in next five years 45% young nonprofit professionals plan to leave nonprofit sector 69% of next generation leaders feel underpaid 66% report quality of life challenges as disincentives to becoming an Executive Director
\"I do not plan on becoming a millionaire working in this sector, but it is a slap in the face when an Executive Director makes nearly five times your salary and you are barely keeping your head above water.\"
• 1/3 of next generation leaders aspire to become Executive Directors • 75% of nonprofit professionals feel their work is personally fulfilling • 40% of aspiring executives say they’ll be ready within 5 years • There really is NO leadership deficit
Baby Boomers Gen Y Gen X
\"As a member of Generation X , I feel like I've been forced to sit at the kids table for a bit too long, waiting for positions currently held by baby boomers to open up. But even when they do become available, all too often non-profits look everywhere but within the organization to fill them.\"
Each of us holds the success of the nonprofit community in our own hands.
Current Leaders Share leadership Help staff build strong external networks Be a mentor Pay reasonable salaries and provide benefits Succession planning Recognize generational differences
Next Generation Leaders Take control of your career Develop broad management expertise Join a board Find a mentor Work with a coach Recognize and respect generational differences