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Executive Coaching, Professional Development, Training, and Career Advancement for Nonprofit Leaders in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

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The Sensitivity Paradox

June 7, 2023 by Andre Sólo

Being Sensitive Is Seen as a Weakness. Is It Actually Our Greatest Human Strength?

This excerpt was adapted from the bestselling book SENSITIVE: The Hidden Power of the Highly Sensitive Person in a Loud, Fast, Too-Much World by Jenn Granneman and Andre Sólo, the creators of Sensitive Refuge. 

The year was 1903. Picasso danced at the Moulin Rouge, electric lights burned at all-­night clubs, and Europe’s cities thundered into a new era. Streetcars rushed commuters down buggy-­packed streets, telegraphs connected faraway places, and breaking news crossed continents in minutes. Technology charmed its way into people’s homes, too, with phonographs squawking out music on demand for parties. The songs may have been a prelude to an evening at the picture house—­or they may have covered up the sound of streets being ripped up to install modern sewers. Even the countryside was abuzz, with farmers using mechanized equipment for the first time. Life was changing, and progress, it was believed, was good. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: Personal Development

Exploring Life in Five Senses with Gretchen Rubin

May 25, 2023 by Gretchen Rubin

An excerpt from Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World

A few years ago, an ordinary event shook up my life.

I made a trip to the eye doctor.

One wintery Thursday morning, my eyes felt gummy and sandy when I got out of bed, but I paid no attention to them until I caught a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror. I was startled to see that the whites of my eyes had turned an angry pink, and my lashes were clumped together: the distinctive signs of pink eye. I ignored my condition for as long as I could, but eventually I found myself in my eye doctor’s exam room, trying not to touch my face. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: Personal Development

Embracing a Culture of Empathy

April 4, 2023 by Anita Nowak

Empathy is a muscle, so it needs to be exercised.

—Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft

Excerpt from Purposeful Empathy: Tapping Our Hidden Superpower for Personal, Organizational, and Social Change 

Nestled in the Caucasus Mountains, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, is a small country that punches above its weight. Inhabited by Homo erectus since the Paleolithic era, Georgia may have fewer than four million inhabitants but welcomed over seven million tourists in 2019. Archeological evidence reveals that the country has been producing wine since 6000 BC— long before Italy or France. And despite a tiny population, its national rugby team plays in the big leagues, living up to its country’s motto: “Strength in Unity.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: Personal Development

Making Peace with What You Can’t Change

February 24, 2023 by Valerie Tiberius

Chapter 6: When All Else Fails — excerpted from WHAT DO YOU WANT OUT OF LIFE?: A Philosophical Guide To Figuring Out What Matters by Valerie Tiberius

Making Peace with What You Can't Change Cover art Let’s take stock. It’s good for us to be able to do the things that matter to us. We’re not always clear about what matters, or what matters most, or how it matters, and the experience of conflict pushes us to find clarity. We refine our system of values and goals by seeing clearly what they are, adjusting how we go about achieving them, getting rid of the bad stuff, and reinterpreting what our values mean so that we can pursue them together. What do we do when these strategies fail? What can we do about perpetual conflicts that we can’t reduce using any of these methods? Do these failures mean we aren’t on the right path? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: Personal Development

Why We Should Embrace The Fun Habit

January 24, 2023 by Mike Rucker, PhD

An excerpt from the newly published book by Mike Rucker, Ph.D.

I have spent most of my life searching for happiness. It was like a puzzle that I could never quite figure out. As an adolescent, I was a hopeless wannabe with an agonizing desire to find my rank in the social structure of my small hometown of Davis, California. Unhappy at home, I emancipated as a teenager to see if happiness was somewhere out there in the world, waiting for me. It’s been quite a journey since then. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: Personal Development

The I’s ALMOST Had It: 2022 Was the Year Integration Tried – but Didn’t Quite – Carry the Day

December 21, 2022 by MARGARET CANN

Last week, I observed my one-year anniversary of having Covid … by getting sick again. I can’t tell you if it was a flu or RSV or the “C” one. I can tell you that I got my tree up, and before I could hang lights or ornaments, the fever set in.

As I hunkered down on my couch for the next several days, eyeing the reminder of a half-completed task, the magnetic pull towards Pity Party (also known, in PQ parlance, as a hijacking by my Victim Saboteur) was so strong. One year ago, I spent Christmas day alone, quarantined, my house unloved, unvisited, and undecorated – my season like an adult Seussian book where the Covid Grinch stole my wreath as well as my fondue and my red wine.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Leadership

Advanced Listening for Fundraisers

November 30, 2022 by mark l vincent

There are four listening competencies tied to the field of Process Consulting. These competencies are not exclusive to Process Consulting, however. They are essential to any form of rich, two-way, and mutual communication. These listening competencies are, therefore, relevant for anyone who intends to have a meaningful career in raising financial support for a critical mission.

Working with people with the means and intention to be generous, and doing so over time, requires a trusting relationship. Trusting relationships are built on this rich, two-way, and mutual communication. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Fundraising, Leadership Tagged With: fundraising, leadership

From Page to Sage: 4 Ways Journaling Can Help You Be a More Effective and Grounded Leader

November 1, 2022 by Lisa Gruenloh

The non-profit leaders I’ve worked with over two decades have numerous attributes in common: deep empathy, infectious passion, and unwavering dedication to their mission and those they serve. We, and I include myself here, have been fueled by purpose, long before such concepts became a mainstay of applied organizational and leadership development. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: Personal Development

Emergence: How a fundraiser lost, and then found her smile

October 19, 2022 by Kimberley MacKenzie

Twenty years from now, when you think back to this moment in your life, would the memory make you smile? This is the story of how, ever so slowly, without even noticing, one fundraiser lost her smile.

The hope is that sharing this story might inspire you to take stock of whether you are living a life of purpose and flow. If you are not living your very best life, what would it take to get you there?

If you have gently shifted toward a lackluster life, perhaps this tale will also inspire you to take some steps so you can emerge into a more resonant one.

This is my story. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Leadership

The Key to Empowered Women? Actually Talk About Money

October 5, 2022 by Jane Finette

With greater economic security and empowerment, there are no limits to what we as women can accomplish. With increased wealth, we increase independence, self-sufficiency, and opportunity for ourselves and our families. With increased wealth, we invest in ways that can make positive change and a return. With an increase in wealth, we increase our power to decide and choose what is important and most needed in the world.

But our relationship with money is complicated and awkward. It’s one of the last big taboos for women. We’ve been conditioned since the dawn of capitalism that the men take care of the money. They have been taught to grow it and pursue it, we have been taught to save it, and be careful with it. However, if we don’t talk about money, we can’t build a positive relationship with it, we can’t put it to use, and we all remain separated in our experience and learning. That’s why it’s critical for women to connect, and Actually Talk about Money! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: leadership

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Recent Posts

  • The Sensitivity Paradox
  • Exploring Life in Five Senses with Gretchen Rubin
  • Embracing a Culture of Empathy
  • Making Peace with What You Can’t Change
  • Why We Should Embrace The Fun Habit

RSS Recent Podcasts

  • Ep: 126 Life in Five Senses With Gretchen Rubin
  • Ep: 125 Rising Together With Sally Helgesen
  • Ep: 124 Six Steps to Purposeful Empathy with Anita Nowak
  • Ep: 123 Learning Those Hard Personal Development Lessons
  • Ep: 122 What Do You Want Out of Life? with Valerie Tiberius
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