October 2, 2009 | Nick Fellers
To Be In A Campaign Or Not To Be In A Campaign – That Is NOT The Question
“When should we start the campaign?”
I spent Wednesday morning with the board and leadership from an 11-year old private school. They had asked me to help them facilitate the answer to this question. Some of the board members wanted to start months ago and others wanted to wait – for the economy, for planning, for a variety of reasons.
More than a ‘timing thing’ it was a ‘perspective thing’. Some leadership said, “We need to be having conversations NOW.” Other leaders didn’t want to budge until all the stars were aligned.
The debate is not unique. “When do we pull the trigger?”
I think this is the WRONG question and so it’s going to be hard getting consensus on an answer. So, for you and for this board, I want to RE-FRAME the issue.
Some more about this school:
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• K-12 Catholic – on East Coast.
• About 200 students – enrollment steady.
• Tuition @ $12,500 (just raised 10%).
• Gifted 100 acres on which to build a new school. Currently have something of a duct-taped campus that spans the creative use of three church spaces.
• A ‘phased-approach’ to the building would require about $6M to functionally move all students to the new location.
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October 2, 2009 | Nick Fellers
Quantum Leap Framework (updated)
I posted a first iteration of QLF in July. Have updated below…
Have a look below at our Quantum Leap Framework. We use this as a FRAMEWORK for conversation, services, training, solutions and more (just about everything, really, that involves taking some sort of a QUANTUM LEAP with your FOR IMPACT organization.)
Hopefully you will find this transcends funding issues and offers a framework for organizational IMPACT and INCOME. Moreover, this is applicable to any organization/business/movement looking to Take a Quantum Leap.,
FRAMEWORK: A framework can be adapted to situations and organizations. It’s not a one-size fits all process. It provides a pathway for thinking through a challenge or complex issues including but not limited to:
- How to make a quantum leap with your organization
- How to re-design
- Facilitating training/coaching/strategy sessions
- Launch a campaign
- Start-up or re-start
- Jumpstart funding
- Engage board members or stakeholder groups at a higher level
- Strategic planning
- Designing a launching a start-up venture (any sector)
I think the applications are limitless.
Here are some example applications:
On Campaigns: A campaign is a strategic component of the framework. (The campaign ‘process’ is determined by the VISION/PEOPLE.)
Strategic Planning: Most strategic plans talk about the how-to without ever going up to the ‘vision level’ to get consensus about the ‘where to’ or ‘why’ which is needed for SIMPLICITY.
People/Process/Performance: A little bit of Jim Collins’ notion – get the right people on the bus first – then you can drive the bus anywhere (perhaps with a clear process and ways to measure performance).
Board Meetings: Use this framework to differentiate between Vision/Strategy/Execution. (Hint – stay at Visionary level with time to dip down / frame strategy.)
Decision-Making: Action/Execution starts by ‘drawing the line in the sand’
For me, this FRAMEWORK captures components of BIG CHANGE… BIG LEAPS!
DOWNLOAD/VIEW QUANTUM LEAP FRAMEWORK PDF
Please leave a comment – tell me how this framework applies to your org/operation/situation.
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September 23, 2009 | Tom Suddes
Great article in this month’s Fast Company MASTER OF DESIGN. Great article about helping companies with the $2 TRILLION FEMALE MARKET.
That $2 Trillion is not just to buy “pink stuff”, home products or groceries or whatever.
If you include the whole idea of Women and Philanthropy, the number is probably closer to $30 to $50 to $100 Trillion!
Femme Den, an internal collective at a firm called Smart Design, offers five tenets of designing for women.
Three of those five are worth passing onto you. For more on the story, go to www.fastcompany.com.
Tenet #1: EMPHASIZE BENEFITS over features. (This is all about emotion, impact, relationships… not the building, the details, etc.)
Tenet #3: CRAFT A COHESIVE STORY. Here’s the direct quote: “Design the whole experience with (them) in mind.” (STORY for women is very, very important. And, designing the EXPERIENCE for them is equally important.)
Tenet #5: REMEMBER HER LIFE STAGES. In the Femme Den’s words, “Are you designing for a 25-year-old or a 65-year-old?”
Just part of my ongoing attempt to remind us of the power of WOMEN RULE.
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September 11, 2009 | Tom Suddes
I received this article, To Save Power, Bangladesh Bans Suits and Ties, from my good friend and former Notre Dame Boxing Captain, Leo Rubinkowski. Just another reason that I love Bangladesh.
*For context, I’ve been the Boxing Coach at Notre Dame for the last 35 years. The Bengal Bouts will be held for the 80th time this year. All of the proceeds from the five-day tournament (over $1 Million to date) go to the Holy Cross Missions in Bangladesh, formerly Bengal. I have visited the Missions there; and, more recently, eight of our current boxers have visited on three different occasions in the last year. Incredible program.
I spent 25 years in business ‘in uniform’. Triple starched white shirts. Dark green or dark blue suit. Conservative, regimental ties. (My brother John and I used to change into four or five white shirts per day when we were working in places like St. Louis in the summer!)
As a truly Old Guy, I’ve been around enough other Old Guys to verify that this UNIFORM has nothing to do with Leadership, Creativity or Innovation. It certainly has zero to do with THINKING. In fact, almost everybody knows that THINKING TIME does not coincide with SUIT & TIE TIME.
Take off your jacket. Undo or trash your tie. ‘Ties’ cut off circulation and strangle the brain.
Get comfortable… and THINK.
P.S. Hopefully, Beau Brummel has been banished to that ‘hot place’ and forced to wear a dark suit, starched white shirt and a really tight tie… in Hades.
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September 9, 2009 | Tom Suddes
While not the number ‘42’ (the Hitchhiker’s Guide answer to everything), 9 is a good number. It’s 3 x 3 (my favorite number). It’s a part of the ‘perfect number’ 81 (both the square root and the sum of the the numbers).
And, it’s the number of our GUIDING PRINCIPLES for our QUANTUM LEAP CAMPAIGN.
I thought 9-9-09 was a great day to share these 9 Guiding Principles with you.
Following is a link to the 9 GUIDING PRINCIPLES in our Campaign Manifesto, TAKE A QUANTUM LEAP. These supporting thoughts, ideas and action are only 6 pages and an easy read!
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September 8, 2009 | Nick Fellers (admin)
Early this morning I was looking up something in Take A Quantum Leap (Our Campaign Manifesto) and ended up reminding (myself) that a ‘Campaign’ is all about ACTION. I mentioned that the literal translation or definition of a ‘Campaign’ probably has its provenance with Napoleon and War. As any great general or military leader will tell you, success in war is about MASSIVE ACTION – NOW.
I have watched literally hundreds and hundreds of organizations screw around for years trying to figure out what to do, when to do it, where to hold the kickoff, etc. I’m watching some really great organizations right now who are still debating the “impact of the economy and the recession”, “somebody else has kicked off a campaign in our community”, “our donors are tired and maybe we should wait”, and on and on. UGH!
CHALLENGE FOR THE DAY: What are the 3 ‘MASSIVE ACTIONS’ that you could take RIGHT NOW that would cause an EXPLOSIVE EXPONENTIAL JUMP… a QUANTUM LEAP for your organization?
WRITE THEM DOWN.
Then, GO DO ‘EM.
P.S. I was reading a book by Jim Rohn (profound thinker, mind expander, speaker, author and master motivator).
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1. He uses this ‘MASSIVE ACTION’ in a little different way, but the same principle.
2. He says there is always a list of things that we can do/act upon.
3. The key is finding the one or two things that will have the most powerful IMPACT (he used that word) and create the most OPPORTUNITIES.
Different words. Same concept.
TAKE MASSIVE ACTION.
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September 2, 2009 | Tom Suddes
Nick and I just had a shorthand, fast and furious, conversation on how to present projects (buildings or otherwise) that don’t have all of the details complete. This could mean final cost estimates, but it could also be around no final design, no final square footage, no architect… and perhaps even no site!
Here’s Nick’s great line for leadership investors: “We are working on (all of the above), and will have (final numbers or whatever) at some point.”
“Today, we’re LINING UP THE FINANCING… to ensure that we can make this project happen.”
After that, it’s all downhill, so to speak. They’re either IN or not. They either GET IT, at the HIGHEST LEVEL, or not.
We have raised an awful lot of money and gotten some serious leadership commitments with no final cost, no final design, and on a number of occasions, no final site or land!
Special Note: Here are 3 synapse, tangential thoughts.
- The CONTINGENCY CLOSE. “Based on all we talked about, can you make this leadership commitment CONTINGENT on (final estimates, final design, etc.)?” This actually works for just about any ‘objection’.
- Mark McCormack, Founder if IMG, now one of the largest firms in the world representing athletes and artists, simplifies the entire secret to sales success this way:
“Always sell at the highest level.”
He would love Nick Fellers. Nick is always coaching around the presentation: “When you get in trouble, when things seem to fall apart, when there are questions… ALWAYS GO UP/BACK to 30,000′.” - “You’re not in the real estate business.” This is my favorite line for anybody trying to do buildings, capital improvements, etc. It’s not about the place, the building, the real estate… it’s WHY you need it… and WHAT goes on in there.
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August 28, 2009 | Tom Suddes
After I did this week’s WOW email on WOMEN RULE, I came across an article from Sunday, August 23rd, New York Times entitled THE POWER OF THE PURSE.
Read it and weep. (Because we in this Third Sector are still just talking about making our brochures ‘PINK’… instead of having meaningful dialogue and conversation with women investors who want to make an IMPACT.)
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August 27, 2009 | Tom Suddes
It’s official! HBR (Harvard Business Review) for September 2009 has ‘confirmed’ that women really do rule.
The article was titled Understanding the “Female Economy”.
Here’s why I find this both funny and sad.
In 2003, Tom Peters was somehow turned onto to this whole ‘WOMEN’ thing. He wrote about it. Spoke about it. And I picked up on it.
I tried to apply this WOMEN RULE thing to the Third Sector and the For Impact World. In 2003, I wrote Women Rule. In 2005, I added Women & Philanthropy, calling it the $1 Billion Idea. In 2007, I gave you Lions, Mice, Antelopes… and Women.
Here are some ‘gems’ from the FEMALE ECONOMY and HBR, along with some of my thoughts (Circa 2009).
- HBR: WOMEN NOW DRIVE THE WORLD ECONOMY.
- Control $20 Trillion in Annual Consumer Spending.
- $13 Trillion in Yearly Earnings.
- In aggregate, women represent a growth market bigger than China and India combined. (More than twice as big, in fact.)
FI: So who do we ‘call’ on? MEN!
- HBR: THE WORLD’S LARGEST OPPORTUNITY. The authors proclaim that “Women represent the largest MARKET OPPORTUNITY in the world.” Income will rise $5 Trillion in the next five years from $13 Trillion to $18 Trillion, etc.
“But despite women’s dominant buying power, many companies continue to market mostly to men and fail to explore how they might meet women’s needs.”
***Their shorthand metaphor for what not to do is “Make it pink.”
FI: So who do we ‘call’ on? MEN!
- HBR: WOMEN MAKE THE DECISION IN THE PURCHASES OF:
- 94% of Home Furnishings
- 92% of Vacations
- 91% of Homes
- 60% of Automobiles
- 51% of Consumer Electronics.”
FI: And, we’re guessing at least 50% of philanthropic decisions.
OG (The Old Guy): The HBR article by Michael Silverstein and Kate Sayre, both partners in the Boston Consulting Group, is based on their book Women Want More: How to Capture Your Share of the World’s Largest, Fastest Growing Market.
The thrust of the book and the article was really around CONSUMER SPENDING, purchasing, retail, etc….
My point to everyone reading this is about WOMEN ‘IN’ PHILANTHROPY! It could also be WOMEN ‘AND’ PHILANTHROPY!
- WOMEN ARE GREAT PROPSECTS!!! They actually have a heart. They really want to help people in need. They are great prospects solo (as individuals)… and they need to be brought in as part of a couple, parents, spouse.
- WOMEN ARE GREAT PROSPECTS for Legacy Gifts. One of the biggest laughs I get in speaking is when I ask the question: “Who’s going to end up with the $100 TRILLION of WEALTH TRANSFER in the next 30 years?” The laugh comes around my answer: “WOMEN!”
They outlive men… and, therefore, become great prospects for both cash and Legacy Gifts.
- WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS. I don’t have all the “numbers” right at hand, but this market segment/sector is also growing by proverbial leaps and bounds.
CLOSE: You can read all this… and more. Or, you can just GET IT… and go VISIT with WOMEN!
THE WEEKLY CHALLENGE:
- Identify 3 women champions (either already committed to your cause/org or great potential) and VISIT WITH THEM !
- Get 30 minutes. Ask for nothing but feedback and counsel. Listen. Tell some stories. Touch the ‘heart”.
- You’ll be amazed at the results.
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August 27, 2009 | Tom Suddes
Note: I’m posting a series of nuggets on ‘women and philanthropy’ so some of these are from previous years that I want to bring to the top of the pile. — below from 2005.
- HOW DO WE MELD THIS MARKET INTO OUR VISION AND OUR PLAN?
- WHERE DO WE FIND THESE QUALIFIED (WOMEN) PROSPECTS?
- HOW DO WE BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN THIS MARKET?
- 10.2 million women earn more than their husbands!!! (One out of four women)
- Women equal 43% of Americans with assets greater than $500,000 !!!
- Women own 60% of all assets in the U.S. !!!
- Women-owned businesses total nearly 8 MILLION !!! (vs. 400,000 25 years ago); and post $2.3 trillion in annual sales!
- This year, 50% of all small businesses will be woman owned.
- More than half of the new jobs created in this country since 1992 are attributed to women-owned businesses !
- Women control over half of commercial and consumer consumption.
- American women… by themselves …are in effect the largest “national” economy on earth!!!
- Women control about 80% of household spending and, using their own resources, make up 47% of investors.
- Women buy 81% of all products and services, buy 75% of all over-the-counter medications, make 81% of retail purchases, and buy 82% of groceries.
- Eighty percent of the checks written in the United States are signed by women.
- Forty percent of all business travelers are women; they are responsible for 61% of all travel and consumer-electronics purchases.
- Women influence 85% of all automobiles purchased.
- They also head 50% of all U.S. households with incomes over $600,000 and own roughly 66% of all home-based businesses.
- Women have been the majority of voters in this country since 1964.
- The inter-generational transfer of wealth in the next 20 years will be between $8 and $14 trillion … and women will handle most of it!!!
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We help "nonprofits" fund their visions through training, coaching and consulting based on 25+ years of experience and $1Billion+ raised directly and $1Billion via coaching/training. For Impact is also our message, our commitment and a movement.
