I want to follow up Janae’s posting on employee engagement with this quote from a colleague Dr. Joan Marques, Founder/President at Academy for Spirituality and Professional Excellence (ASPEX). “There’s a difference between apathy and acceptance. Apathy lets you endure life. Acceptance helps you enjoy it.” How many times have you seen co-workers drudge through their …

This Blog is By Kathie Allen, CPCC, ACC – Guest Writer As a coach, it has often occurred to me that my clients are afraid to “want” things. They live in a place of wishing but they never take action to go after it. What is it that you want? What do you want to …

As BP continues to be in the spotlight, with every business practice being scrutinized, we can learn some lessons on how ethical companies balance safety and costs. Ethical Culture There is nothing inherently “ethical” about balancing safety and costs. Few programs, even government projects, can reduce safety risks down to zero. The key factor is …

This blog was written by guest writer Andy Horsnell. While working for a nonprofit capacity building service, I had occasion to put together an “Executive Director Boot Camp” that would help EDs identify and begin addressing issues that were critical for their on-the-job effectiveness. Early in the development of this project, I almost had myself …

For the last 50-60 years, a Feasibility Study has been “required” before planning and/or implementing a Capital Campaign, and its basic concept and structure hasn’t changed in all that time. I contend that it’s more than obsolete, it’s counter-productive. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t first determine the feasibility of …

Can a nonprofit purchase a for-profit company and operate it as a social enterprise? This question came up in a recent discussion on the npEnterprise Forum. Incidentally, npE is the official listserv partner of the Social Enterprise Alliance, and, with 7000+ global subscribers, has become the global commons for the social enterprise movement. Subscriptions are …

People are always asking us for examples of business plans, which is a bit ironic, in that every credible plan I’ve ever seen has “Confidential” stamped all over it. That said, there are samples out there, which is fine as long as you don’t assume you should do it the way they did it. Here …

Sometimes the best things in life are free. So if your preference is to find out what’s available on the web before investing in a business planning book (see previous blog entry for a list of books), here’s a quick list of ten “best” business planning web sites. My next blog will indicate where you …

What is the Value of a Social Media Fan? A community of targeted traffic on a social media platform also has very real intrinsic value. Hooray! Social media marketing efforts actually equate to marketing power and real dollars.

I have been thinking about Types of Changes, which tend to fall into 3 buckets. First, there is the Minor change, which is basic tuning, or adjustments to normal business life and the predictability of managing those is high. Then there are the Low impact changes, small changes in people and processes where predictability is …