Leaders of Tomorrow

I'm in Halifax for a couple days this week, meeting with partners, potential partners, and friends old and new. Over dinner tonight I was speaking with someone I'm starting to think of as a mentor/role model and he had an interesting way to speak about our work.

He said, when you're talking to people here (he meant in Nova Scotia), you need to ask them "What are we doing for our leaders of tomorrow?" Now imagine 20 years ago if more time had been spent developing their leadership abilities.

That's a powerful way to think about systemic change. Take people back to a time in their lives when leadership development would have been formative. What would be different today? Imagine our future when we do this for the leaders of tomorrow.

Adrienne O'Pray

The TJ has a good story this morning on the latest incarnation of Adrienne O'Pray. The former COO of the Atlantic Lottery Corporation is now joining Ambir Solutions in their new management consultancy.

I met Adrienne while she was at ALC in the spring of 2008. When the New Brunswick Business Council and 21inc partnered on the Ideas Festival in 2008, we were introduced as ALC was our presenting partner.

I vividly remember her respect for dialogue, for making space for innovation inside organizations, and desire to see people rise to their potential. It was in one of our conversations that we came up with the theme of the most successful panel discussion at the Festival, What's the Matter with Excellence?

We're happy to be able to bring her back into the 21inc fold this weekend in Moncton for our 2nd Accelerator. She'll be joining Andrew Oland, President of Moosehead Breweries and Louis Philippe Gauthier, General Manager at l'Etoile to engage the 21 leaders in a discussion on NB's place in the world.

Beat Poetry

Beat Poet Tim Merry, as told to the audience at Face to Face last year. This is part of a longer poem that will be appearing in the next edition of Progress Magazine.

Legions of youth depart

All they are seeking is learning

That’s their culture

We got to connect to their passion inside

Or they’ll keep on leaving

And we’ll be left bereaving

21 Leaders doing great work in their community

As part of the leadership development process, the 21 Leaders collaborate with a non-profit organization of their choice to work on a community solutions project that will help the organization further their objectives and increase their capacity to have a greater impact in their community. This year, one of the groups has chosen to evaluate youth engagement at the Saint John Y in an effort to help increase programming options and participation.

This morning, the Telegraph Journal published an article featuring this great partnership between the Saint John Y and the group of 21 Leaders, which you can read at http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/city/article/932897

Premier Graham Channels 21inc in Globe & Mail

My girlfriend tonight asked if I had read Premier Graham's interview with the Globe and Mail in this weekend's paper. She said that no matter what one thinks of his policies, his last answer was very 21inc. So, of course, I had to read it. She was right. For those who missed it here it is:

Globe: You said at the news conference that good policy makes good politics. But how convinced are you that tough decisions like this bring about good electoral results?

Premier Graham: That's the mindset that people think of their governments - that they're only making policies to get themselves re-elected. ... My goal today is to create a stronger New Brunswick. This is my home; this is where I grew up and this is where I want to stay. We've seen too many of our young people leave, and we can't just continue down the path of the status quo.

Happiness vs Satisfaction

I attended the Sobey Leadership Forum last Friday in Halifax where the speakers spoke a lot about motivating people.

One of my key takeaways was the difference between happiness and satisfaction. My job as an organizational leader, they said, is not to make people happy. Unfortunately, we (and I) get trapped in the very human desire of wanting to make people happy. Satisfaction happens from a job well done, by pushing people to do more than they realized. The process of accomplishing a task may actually evoke quite the opposite emotion to happiness – especially when pushing someone beyond their comfort zone.

Thinking about it from a nonprofit context is interesting too. Unlike a private company, the people I think about are not only staff but volunteers and participants. The democratic nature of leadership required in nonprofits is critical as satisfaction is greater when someone is involved from the inspiration ideation stage to final product or service. Often this isn`t possible or necessary, but there are times when it`s an absolute must.

I've been thinking about the role of self-awareness and social intelligence in satisfaction. If one thinks they are being pushed beyond their limits and does a good job, than satisfaction is apt to be high. If one feels underutilized, they will be frustrated, even if the job is done well.

The leader needs to have an acute understanding of not only the abilities of team members but also the perception of abilities. Not an easy task. Probably why it`s better instead to create a process with checks along the way to refine self-awareness, increase competency and do a great job.

Reference Points

Anyone out there know a good resource for start-up social enterprises/nonprofits?

I ask because in the process of working on our charitable application, I realized we needed a job description for me. Here’s the rub: I don’t have one.

As a founder of the organization we never made one. I went from the board to the staff, had a bunch of conversations with everyone that grew into a collective vision, and off I went.

The challenge in this situation is that most of the writing or research I’ve found is not directly relevant to small and/or start up nonprofit organizations. Start-up business stories, articles and research are often helpful but don’t always provide what is needed.

I’d love to see a story about what management/admin tasks to prioritize over which to leave for later, what might bite in the ass if it’s not done, and systems for execution with a paid staff, volunteer board, and a bunch of supporters. Obviously we’re figuring it out but I’d love a couple more reference points. Any help would be much appreciated.