the WOrld is waiting for you

Yesterday I was having a conversation with a leader in the nonprofit space.  She runs an organization that is doing truly groundbreaking work.  What's also interesting is that she runs her nonprofit in a unique way that challenges the typical ways we tend to look at nonprofits.    But I'm going to leave this leader to tell her story - and I've been pleased to be able to share some suggestions for doing so.   So I'll leave that there.

What I wanted to focus on today in this brief note is the need for new and original thinking in the nonprofit space.  We need more Thought Leaders.  

As we were talking about her path yesterday, I shared some information about Dan Pallotta, his books Uncharitable and Charity Case and perhaps the most intriguing of all, his Ted Talk.  The talk is called The Way We Think About Charity is Dead Wrong and I've conveniently provided the link HERE.    I shared this because 1) I am a huge proponent of what he's suggesting (you either know this or will shortly find out) and 2) I was using him as an example of someone moving beyond simply being an author - he's become a Thought Leader for what I'll call the helping sector.  

I'm using "helping"  because Dan has written and talked about moving away from the whole concept of nonprofits.    The word nonprofit has implications - many that are negative.  So why not elevate the language from the "no" or negative?  Why not give the sector the respect it deserves for focusing on solving major problems.

So you can call today's short post a recruiting call for New Thought Leaders.  And by the way, I'm not talking about some new strategies or tactics for raising money.  Or a new approach to management or even leadership.  Not at all.  I'm talking about truly challenging the paradigms that have characterized this work for so long.  Since I love the idea of I don't know what I don't know, I'll suggest that The world can't wait for the breakthrough thinking we can't wait for.   

The World Is Waiting for You and your thinking.  Don't keep us waiting.