It’s common that a client will want to start strategic planning by “updating the mission statement.” After all, that’s what a lot of experts suggest. Mission statements get a lot of attention from writers and consultants. Many of them assert that the statements should be highly inspirational and easy to read. They give examples of …

Mindful Proclamations: Studying Failed Movements Last week, I got a call from a consultant who lamented the 220;failure of all those management movements.221; As usual in these conversations, the caller went on to explain how his particular idea was what leaders and managers really needed. That type of lament seems increasingly common in the literature …

Last week, I did a workshop among nonprofit CEO Executive Directors. Some of them expressed great frustration at the exorbitant compensation of CEOs of very large, in-building nonprofit capacity for-profit companies. They mentioned that many of the company217;s products were very poor quality anyway. One participant offered a rather novel assertion that the pay of …

Media Notification! Avoiding Common Mistakes and Assumptions In my PR career, I’ve heard some unbelievable things people have said about “The Media.” Things that made “The Media” out to be some kind of monolithic machine, the political equivalent of the Teabagger viewpoint about “The Government” (as if “The Government” were one entity. Seriously, are they …

The issues surrounding Goldman Sachs highlight many of challenges facing the business ethics industry. There has been a public furor over the integrity of certain industries, such as finance, even though the leaders of those companies can state categorically that they acted legally, and ethically, within the guidelines they have worked within for some time. …

Tomorrow is the first day of the Social Enterprise Alliance’s annual Summit, a national conference that features a wide variety of presentations, workshops and networking in this field. This year’s Summit is being held in San Francisco. More information is available at www.se-alliance.org. If you can make it to the conference, great, I know you …

Everyone has or should have a general idea of how much time it takes to develop a new training program. In the research I217;ve done times are all over the place 10:1 all the way up to 40:1 the later being very generous. I think if you had a 40:1 ratio you217;d never find a …

Is Direct Response Marketing still a powerful concept in the digital age? Marketing in the digital world is a race for the most current information, the best technology, and the fastest implementation. David Ogilvy remains one of the most famous names in advertising and one of the handful of thinkers (Raymond Rubicam, Leo Burnett, William Bernbach, Ted Bates) who shaped the business after the 1920s.

Board Management in Fundraising: Setting Up the Facts MYTH: Every Board Member must make an 220;example-setting221; major gift. REALITY: Every Board Member must set an example by giving to the best of his/her ability. Even a dollar (if that217;s all s/he can afford) will help demonstrate, to other potential (individual and institutional) funders, that every …

The Doctor Recommends Crisis Prevention:  But It’s Your Choice [Written with a healthcare industry slant, but obviously applicable to most organizations] There217;s a death or serious injury due to questionable circumstances. An employee is accused of impropriety. Your company is acquired by or is acquiring another. A natural disaster occurs. There217;s an investigation of your …