It’s really easy to lose the day/week/month/year putting out fires… or always RESPONDING.
I’ve been encouraging development officers to self-coach through these three questions EVERY morning BEFORE email – over a good cup of coffee.

What can I do to bring in more money today?
What am I doing to advance the ball with my top 10 prospects?
What [...]

We had a ‘guest’ instructor at yoga ‘practice’ last night. Part way through, she had a great line about focus, breathing, BE-ing in the moment: “Remember, we are human BE-ings, not human DO-ings.“
‘Life’ and ‘work’ are hectic, but this is a simple reminder to LIVE and BE.
Seems like we’re always encouraging you to [...]

Right now is a great time to learn.
By many accounts we’re in the midst of ‘economic turmoil’ like most of us have not seen in our lifetime. Two ways to think about this.. For me /for us/ for our orgs this is all opportunity. We can learn things now that we couldn’t [...]

I was reading Leader to Leader early this morning. (Terrific magazine coming from the Leader to Leader Institute, formerly Drucker Foundation.)
James Champy of RE-ENGINEERING fame had a great line about the real leadership companies:
“A BUDGET IS NEVER AN EXCUSE FOR INACTION.”
He talks about how ENTREPRENEURIAL organizations never use their budget as an excuse; while [...]

“Not everything that counts can be counted.
And, not everything that can be counted, counts.”
This is a sign that reportedly hung in Albert Einstein’s office at Princeton.
(It’s one of the great little nuggets from Dan Pallotta’s book UNCHARITABLE. Much more on this later.)
I just want to make this a short and simple reminder that [...]

I hope you have all now seen or read one of Nick and my absolute favorite quotes by Andy Grove:
“ENGAGE. THEN PLAN.”
We’ve been astounded over the years by how many people PLAN, PLAN, PLAN… RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH… CULTIVATE, CULTIVATE, CULTIVATE…
and never ENGAGE!
*Remember, ENGAGE = VISIT = PRESENT = JUST ASK!
Perhaps these two quotes by a [...]

I don’t read a lot of ‘fundraising blogs’. Most of my blog list includes sifting through entrepreneurs, business builders, innovators and designers…
Brad Feld is a fun funder/tech entrepreneur/cool guy in Colorado to read @ feld.com. He directed me to 2-Speed (Will Herman) and this post: Remain Aggressive. You need to read this [...]