Advice for those Working for Nonprofits

I highly recommend the Corner Office section of the Sunday New York Times. The article “Before Making a Big Splash, Learn to Swim”, which we discussed in class last week is definitely worth reading. I think that it will be of especial interest to anyone in the nonprofit sector or those who are looking to go into it. The president and CEO of the Children’s Aid Society, Richard R. Buery, Jr., gives advice on interviewing:

      “The most important thing to me, really, at the end of a day, is passion. Why are you doing this work? I can tell you why I do this work. I believe this country does not live up to the standard it sets toward children. What we say we do and what we actually do are completely different. And it angers me, and I couldn’t be happy unless I was doing something about it, and that makes me very ambitious.

I need people who are equally ambitious and driven and angry, and don’t like the way the world works, and want to make a fundamental change about it.

The skills are important, too, obviously. You’ve got to be able to do your job. But skills, at least, can be taught. I’ve found that you can’t teach passion.”

Mr. Buery also advises getting a mentor:

“ I have been very intentional about recruiting mentors in my careers, and I think a lot of it has to do with the work that I’ve been doing. I’ve started two other nonprofits; now I’m leading a new one. There are lots of great things about being the boss. But because I’ve been in charge for most of my career, I’ve always been envious of friends and colleagues who would talk about the great bosses they had and what they were learning. I never had that, and people were looking to me, and I’m looking behind myself, but there’s no one there. So I have had to, out of necessity, find people I could ask for advice.

Some mentors have been with me for a long time. Others sort of come in and come out. But my approach to mentoring is that I come with specific questions. “How should I do this? I’m experiencing this challenge,” and it’s been tremendously important to me.”

And as Professor Casey pointed out he discusses his thought on leadership.

Here’s the link to the article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/business/12corner.html

Catherine Crawford