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Not All Large Gifts Are Major Gifts: Part One – How Not To Go About It

In our definition, we suggest that, no matter its size, unless a gift met certain parameters, it wasn’t “major.” We emphasize the requirement that the process that obtained the gift had to be based on a plan/strategy that included face-to-face cultivation and solicitation components, and that the gift had to significantly help in attaining fundraising …

Reputation Combat

Protect your good name Whether you know it or not, people are talking about your company. Thanks to the Web, customers, potential customers, stakeholders, and even reporters are communicating their thoughts and opinions about you. This is great while things are going well, but make a misstep and you’ll find the conversation quickly takes a …

U is for Unity

Some of my favorite daily messages come the the Daily Word from Unity. Each day a spiritual message of hope shows up in my inbox to greet me with love and encouragement as I walk on my spiritual journey. Often times the message is exactly what I need to hear. A specific word will confirm …

Prospecting for Foundation Gold

What does every prospector need to “hit the mother lode?” A good map!! And prospecting for foundation funding is no different. Here’s the good news: with a couple of key tools, you can create your own map to lead you to some very good sources of funding. The two that top my list are annual …

Egocentricity and the Stages of Man

We all go through egocentric phases, and we need to understand them. We admit our audiences or trainees are all egocentric. The fact is that we all are, but we, as trainers, even need to see how we change over time and how it affects our decisions, attitudes and choices. Shakespeare’s quote never made more …

Tips To Get Your Document Read

Technical Writers do more than just write. They communicate relevant technical information to get jobs done; see previous posts on what a Technical Writer does (see Defining a Technical Writer). They create the documentation, but how do they present an effective and appealing document? In a previous post, we discussed how to create a Style …

How is Facilitating Different from Leading?

A major difference between leading and facilitating is that a leader often tells; a facilitator always asks. In my book, The Secrets of Facilitation, I described how I learned what I call the fundamental secret of facilitation. I began understanding the secret during my career with the management consulting division of what was then one …

The Drivers Model: The Secret to Facilitating Strategy

Leadership Strategies has developed the Drivers Model, a method for taking a strategic approach to addressing a business situation. The model provides a simple communication tool for helping organizations construct a strategic plan. The model is fully scalable and applies to Fortune 500 companies, non-profit organizations, a field office, an individual department, a work team, …

Effective Meetings: The Top Three Challenges

“I hate meetings…they are a waste of time. We just talk, talk, talk…nothings gets done!” Are you in charge of leading meetings? If so, what are your meetings like? Does real work gets done or is it just talk, talk, talk? Here are the top three questions that I’m frequently asked by team and project …

Career Anchors: What Motivates You?

Not everyone is motivated by the same thing. It really is different strokes for different folks. Some people thrive on being creative and innovative whereas others prefer stability and continuity. Challenge and constant simulation may be important to one person, while creating a work/life balance is paramount to another. So, what is important to you …