Hiring Great Fundraisers (or anyone else for that matter)

Human resource professionals and hiring managers often ask me if there are certain qualities to look for in prospective new hires that are likely to make them extraordinarily successful in their roles.  While there are no absolutes, over the years I have found that there are a few characteristics that if carefully screened for can yield excellent new-hire results.  Of course, it helps to have a rigorous recruitment process that develops a strong pool of talented candidates.  Resume reviews and initial phone screenings are great tools for determining foundational competence.  After that process, multiple face-to-face interviews of a small pool of candidates by a diverse hiring committee who are prepared to ask penetrating questions about character (not competence) will get at the heart of the matter. 

I recognize that this may be a completely heretical view.  So, go ahead and burn me at the stake.  But before you do, you may want to take a look at the character/personality qualities below which I regularly looked for when making new hires.  While I am indebted to Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich) and W. Clement Stone (Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude) for the initial inspiration of this list, in most cases I have put my own spin on these.  I should point out that nearly all of these qualities can be learned or acquired over time with practice.  They are not innate.  If you are recruiting someone to your team, I strongly recommend you consider evaluating candidates along these dimensions in addition to any specialized knowledge that may be required.

Positive mental attitude

This attitude can often be described by such words as optimistic, courageous, generous, tolerant, tactful, kind, and having good common sense.

Going the extra mile

Live by the golden rule, and render more and better service than was expected.

Definiteness of purpose

A dominating idea, plan, or purpose emotionalized by a burning desire for its realization. The ability to set goals and make specific plans to achieve them.

Enthusiasm

Intense enjoyment of one’s work and profession.

Personal Initiative

Plan one’s own work and work one’s plan.  “I do it now” attitude.

Pleasing Personality

A professional appearance and demeanor. Can demonstrate the virtue of humility.

Learning from Defeat

The ability to learn from substantial personal and professional setbacks.

Controlled Attention (also perseverance and persistence)

Can stay focused for long periods of time.  Can stick with a projects for 12, 18, and 24 months while overcoming obstacles.

 

Teamwork

Works well with others.  Can seek advice and help from others to accomplish goals.



Time and Project Management

Manages multiple priorities and projects simultaneously.  Stays organized.  A time and place for everything.

Creative Vision

The ability to use imagination constructively.  Can “paint a picture” in the mind of another with words.

Accurate Thinking

Separates fact from fiction.  Can implement practical ideas or plans to achieve a particular goal.

What Does A Yellow Light Mean?

#SLOW DOWN.

In the late1970's television sitcom Taxi, Jim ventures over to the DMV with his buddies to take his driver's license written exam.  What ensues is one of the most memorable and humorous exchanges in sitcom history.

It's a skit that comes back to me over and over again as we are encouraged to SPEED UP in our ever changing world.  Often, we're racing from meeting to meeting, taking the next 5-minute call, banging out the next email, and responding to a text.  If you are in the business of relationships (management, leadership, fundraising, etc.) then I ask: Are we really creating "relationships" with all of this busyness?  Contrary to the popular culture, I am here to say that we are not.  We've got lots of activity, and very little depth.  

This past weekend I spent three days with 30 folks in Atlanta really slowing down and getting in touch with the present moment (as well as with each other).  It was a great reminder that relationships are built through long, slow conversations over time.  Emails and text messages don’t cut it.  Relationships blossom when we focus on the other person, and that person comes to know that we are there for them.  "Being with" someone is a lost art, and yet, it can be rediscovered. 

I'm fond of Stephen Covey's expression, "With people, slow is fast, and fast is slow."  When we slow down, people and the world come into focus.  It is from that place that we can see (and seize) opportunities, while being of service to others. 

I will share that I find this incredibly challenging.  My mind is often very speedy.  This week I intend to do my best to slow down.  On Friday night, I’ll be heading over to the beach with my spouse to hold her hand as the sun sets and we celebrate her birthday together.

So, go for that walk.  Get out of the office and have lunch with someone.  Chew and taste your food before swallowing.  Sit with a colleague and tell him or her what you really appreciate about them.  Be curious.  Ask heartfelt questions.  Breathe. And, when you are tempted to bounce off the walls like ricochet rabbit, remember to ask: 

Whaaaatttt…..Doessss…..AAAAAAA…..Yelllllllowwww…..Lighhhtttt…..Meeeannnn??????

Chopping Wood and Toting Water

There is a Zen saying, "Before enlightenment chop wood and tote water; after enlightenment chop wood and tote water."  Of course, this refers to a time (not too long ago) prior to household internal plumbing and heat.  Then, as now, life and work appears to consist of a litany of routine and mundane tasks.


In fundraising there are certain activities that we must do in order to accomplish our goals.  For example, we are often required to hold a certain number of face-to-face visits with donors each month (chopping wood), and record the salient content of those conversations in a database (toting water).  Even chief development officers (enlightened fundraising masters) chop this wood and tote this water.


And yet, when we bring our full attention and awareness to whatever task is at hand the burden seems to become lighter, and the effort is more like a game that we enjoy playing.  So, in this context I ask: where in your current work do you want be more present and playful in order to lighten the burden?

The Four Essential Elements of Leadership

In Season 2, Episode 9 of the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender, Uncle Iroh describes to his nephew (Zuko) the culture of the Four Nations as follows:

Fire--The element of power.  The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will.  They also possess the energy and drive to achieve what they want.

Earth--The element of substance.  The people of the Earth Kingdom are divers and strong.  They are persistent and enduring.

Air--Air is the element of freedom.  The Air Nomads detached themselves from worldly concerns and found peace and freedom. Also, they have pretty good senses of humor.

Water--Water is the element of change.  The people of the Water Tribe are capable of adapting to many things.  They have a deep sense of community and love that holds them together.

As I watched the episode this week with my younger daughter, it occurred to me that Iroh's lesson to Zuko is a wonderful metaphor for leadership.  And, as he rightly observes: "It is the combination of the Four Elements in one person that makes the Avatar so powerful." 


So, I ask: as a leader, which of the elements have you mastered, and which require further development?

Commencement: A Beginning or Start

Now that we have mostly concluded the "Commencement Season" in education circles, it is time to pause, celebrate, and consider what is on the horizon.  

It is so easy to get stuck in the perspective that Commencement (a.k.a. "Graduation") is somehow an ending rather than a beginning.  Paradoxically it is both.  My older daughter who is moving up from middle school to high school declared that she wanted to burn all her notes from 8th grade in the fire pit so that she could ceremonially declare her passage.  I'm actually inspired by this suggestion, and looking forward to dancing with her around the campfire.

Whether you are a fundraiser in higher ed, a corporate executive, or a professional working in a non-profit, the month of June is a great time to take stock on what you've accomplished during the first six months of the calendar year.  Pause, and revisit your vision board (or annual action plan).  Where are you on track?  What is complete?  What is no longer necessary?  Where do you want to redouble your efforts?  What are you most proud of?

For me, one of the great accomplishments over the past six months was to launch www.freedomretreat.org.  It's a week-long leadership retreat this coming September for executives, managers, non-profit professionals, and business owners who want more liberation in their personal and professional lives.  While the date of the retreat is clearly on the horizon, it has been several months of satisfying work pulling it all together.  

I encourage you to block out some time this month to reflect on the first half of the year, congratulate yourself, and commence projects that will fulfill you for the remainder of 2015.

Freedom. Live it, Love it, Lead it.

Yesterday, as I honored veterans (living and dead) who have served the United States of America in the military, my thoughts turned to freedom.   What is it?  How do we live it every day?  What would it mean if we could encourage others to embody it, and what is possible if we radiate it outwards to all corners of the world?

As part of this inquiry, my memory drifted back to 1969 and Richie Havens (a kid from Brooklyn, NY) during his opening act of Woodstock, where after three hours of performing he completely improvised the song Freedom, which was loosely based on an old spiritual "Motherless Child".  The song became an anthem for that generation and launched Havens' long career. 

Nearly 200 years earlier, a small group of men representing the thirteen American Colonies then at war with Great Britain declared their independence from the King and asserted that: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."  

With the stroke of a pen, that pithy, treasonous assertion called into question nearly the entire history of the human social order.  It is an assertion that is tested to this very day.  And, as the Founding Fathers of the United States of America rightly reasoned, liberty starts with the individual.  

I am blessed to live in a country (the USA) where individuals are still relatively unencumbered to live, love, and lead their lives with a modicum of freedom.  Yet, in the nearly 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence more than ever we live in an interdependent world where economic forces (as much as political power) shape the events of our existence.  How then, do we actualize our unalienable right to liberty when economic and institutional forces seem to shape nearly all of our decisions?

The exploration of answers to these questions requires more attention than is typically reserved for a blogpost.  If you are interested in achieving more freedom and liberation in your personal and professional lives, then I encourage you to join a small group of exquisite executives, managers, non-profit professionals, and business owners who will be gathering on retreat in Colorado this September to develop some answers.  We'll be smashing limiting beliefs while learning how to lead on purpose in concert with our personal (and organizational) values.  We will activate creativity and innovation in order to dissolve scarcity consciousness.  Our aim is no less than to unleash joy and abundance at work and at home.

This retreat is not for the faint of heart. Freedom is a conscious choice. Choose to join a group of leaders in Colorado this September and start on the path of liberation. Go to Freedom Retreat to learn more.

Leading From The Field

No, not the athletic field, nor the field of battle.  The field to which I refer is the one described by investigative journalist and author Lynn McTaggart in her book by the same name.  It is, in short, what physicists describe as web of energy that connects all matter in the universe.

Uhhhh, Ok!  So, how does one lead from there?  That was the question that I was exploring with 28 exquisite leaders on retreat last week in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.  Prior to the retreat, these leaders read and discussed the book Presence, which pointed us in the right direction.  In that book, Peter Senge, et. al. developed a model for change leadership called the "U" curve, or "Theory U".  That model is depicted in the illustration that accompanies this post.

This is a very different kind of leadership.  It requires stillness and non-doing.  That's right--no action.  I can share that I really struggle with this.  For many, many years one of my mantras was: "when in doubt, do something" (and see what happens).  The new way of leading that I am exploring is more like: "when in doubt, do nothing".  This "non-doing" represents nearly two-thirds of the Theory-U model.  It requires significant periods of quiet time when we just observe, open our heart-minds, and sit with not knowing.  In Lynn McTaggart's terms, we might call this sensing what is needed from the energy of the field.

I want to be clear that there is action in this mode of leadership.  However, it is not the Energizer Bunny kind action that is so commonplace today.  It is action that comes in the form of powerful "experiments" or "rapid prototyping" from a place of clarity.  It is action that is informed by inspiration and enthusiasm.  It is action that is life affirming and "feels right".

As part of our leadership retreat, we spent 24 hours in complete silence--partly in nature.  In addition to that, I turned off all electronic devices for nearly a week and did almost no reading.  It felt like a cleanse.  I come back to the world with a renewed vigor and a commitment to lead in a different way.

How about you?  What is possible when you quiet your mind, sense the field, and then take rapid, powerful action from there?