Posts
Learnings on life, leadership, family, friends, and everything in between.
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Before something is great, it has to start as something. That something can be an idea, a thought, or a suggestion that turns into action. That action becomes an invitation for others to act, and acting together becomes collaboration. Multiply all of that enough times, and it evolves into a movement. A movement then needs…
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The self-made American, and other stories we tell at 250 You couldn’t miss America’s 250th birthday this year. It was on the television and in the magazines, in the speeches and the fireworks. It was in the ambient hum of a country reminding itself how old it is. And once or twice I heard the…
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The unwritten rules keeping nonprofit leaders quiet, and why most of them are myths. Somewhere along the way, many of us who lead nonprofit organizations inherited a set of rules that, as far as I know, no one ever actually wrote down. Stay away from policy work, especially on-the-ground kind, where you create space for…
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A question every leader in the social sector needs to sit with — and answer honestly. In the social sector, we have become very good at mobilizing. We are less good at building. Marshall Ganz, the legendary organizer and Harvard Kennedy School lecturer who spent decades working with the United Farm Workers and training leaders…
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How compensating lived experience helps organizations shift power, build trust, and design systems around real human need. Organizations often say they want to be community-centered, equity-centered, or end-user-centered. The real test is whether the collected feedback or input changes the room, environment, community, and/or ecosystem. Do they help shape the questions?Do they influence the strategy?Do…
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Over the last 18 months, I had the opportunity to learn alongside leaders from across the country through Harvard EdRedesign’s Cradle-to-Career Fellowship. This reflection captures what I learned, what stayed with me, and why I believe our stories deserve to be told. A couple of years ago, I was selected to be part of Harvard…
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On connection without commitment, information behind walls, and the belief that communities move forward when data tells a story anyone can hear. We live in the most connected era in human history. And yet, we’re also increasingly undercommitted. Think about what surrounds us. Social media. Podcasts. Newsletters. AI tools. Content creation at an unprecedented scale.…