Transcript
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As we record this episode, we have just come out of our national election and, wow, the aftermath has been kind of crazy For most of us, at least in my life and Nathan's.
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We've never experienced quite the backlash on social media and the conversations that are happening, quite frankly, based on what's happening in the world right now with the election.
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The question comes to us how should you, how should we as executive directors, as leaders of our organization, be responding?
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Well, let's talk about it.
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Welcome to the Practice of Nonprofit Leadership.
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I'm Nathan Ruby.
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And I'm Tim Barnes.
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The last few days have been kind of crazy, particularly in some of the rhetoric and social media posts and all that.
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Oh my gosh Tim, something that we feel like we need to.
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We need to talk about.
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Yeah, it, it's, this is, this is I don't even know what word to use and you know, since the election, some of the things that I've seen on social media and the conversations that I've been part of and conversations that I've overheard, I I I'm not sure other how to describe them, other than they just break my heart.
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And that's not.
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That's not something I typically would say, but I think it's descriptive of of what I'm experiencing right now.
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This episode is going to be a little bit shorter.
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I think you never know when we start talking what ends up, and we want to.
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We want to get to the point.
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I think there's a couple of things we want to say, and and we have talked about this on on the podcast before you know it's interesting that Nathan and I actually come from different sides of the aisle and, technically, one of us lost and one of us won, , this week.
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But, um, you know, because of our friendship and because of our ability to walk together, we navigate both the good and the bad and try to speak truth, and speak honestly, but also with peace as well.
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And our heart is to walk in that as leaders, as friends, but as leaders of our organizations.
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And so we're not.
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As we step into this, we're not necessarily taking a certain point.
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All we're saying is that significant events require significant leadership in our organizations, and so we want to just take some time just to kind of have some of that conversation.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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And, tim, we've been friends for so long I mean, we've been friends for decades and we have had elections come and we've had elections go, and your side of the aisle has won some, my side of the aisle has won some.
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And guess what, tim?
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Every time the sun came up tomorrow, right, and we're still here and we're still impacting the world and we're still making a difference, and I think that pendulum swings.
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I think one of the things for us and we're going to talk about this in some of our points is that, ultimately, we have a respect for each other and that we know that our desire is to help people, to impact people, to make a difference in the lives of people, and that's what binds us together and that's what makes us friends and the St Louis Cardinals that helps.
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That makes us friends too.
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Like Tim said, we're not going to tell you what to do or not to do.
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That's not the purpose of the episode, but the purpose is to give you a couple of things to think about as you are working through how you're going to respond and even if you're going to respond.
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Yeah.
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So, Nathan, why don't you jump in?
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We've got four, four things just for you to consider.
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I know that's a shock four things but no, we do have four topics, things to consider, and and so, Nathan, why don't you kind of introduce them and then we'll review them together and give our perspectives on them?
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Awesome, all right, here we go.
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Number one be strategic.
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Other and give our perspectives on them.
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Awesome, all right, here we go.
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Number one be strategic.
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And we say this all the time on this podcast don't do anything just willy-nilly.
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Have a plan and do it intentionally.
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We have said that.
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I don't know if it's dozens or hundreds of times on the show, but dozens and hundreds of times.
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Be specific, be intentional, and this is the same, do the same thing here.
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So what we want you to think about is taking a step back and making a plan Right now, just within what are we?
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48 hours, 50 hours of the election, you do not have to go on the record making a statement.
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You, you don't have to write a press release.
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You don't have to send that email.
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Just because you wrote it doesn't mean that you have to send it, you know.
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You don't have to go to your organization's social media.
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You can if you want to, but don't feel like you have to.
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So, right off the, right off the, so right off the start, take a step back and make your plan.
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And I think, anytime that you feel strongly about something, it's easy to launch off on that, on whatever it is, and, tim, you and I were talking before we started to record that this is not just about what we're talking about today.
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It's not just about this election.
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It could be about other things as well.
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There could be.
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You know, your local town council can make a decision that impacts you.
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A board member could do something that impacts you.
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You know, there's all kinds of things that can trigger you.
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It doesn't have to just be this, and so the things that we're talking about today are also valid in other issues as well.
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But just remember, anytime that you feel strongly about something, we have a tendency to launch off and then we run the risk of sticking our foot in our mouths.
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I've done that more than once.
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I've done that with donors.
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I've done that with board members.
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I've done that with volunteers.
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You would think after a while I would learn to stop doing that, tim.
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I don't do it quite as much as I used to, so just understand.
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If you react instead of taking the time to do it intentionally, you run the risk of making a mistake.
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And then the other thing to remember about being strategic is what you do now, both good or bad, will be remembered by your staff, your volunteers, your donors, the community.
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Everybody's going to remember what you do now, whether they perceive it as good or whether they perceive it as bad.
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Again, we're not saying not to respond, not to communicate, not to do something, but do it in a way that's intentional.
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I mean, you can probably bet that for the most part, depending on kind of what your focus of your organization is well, you're going to have a high number of people because of the dividedness that we have in our country.
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You're going to have a large number of people who are on one side and a large group of people who are on the other side.
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And understanding that how you communicate again doesn't mean you shouldn't communicate directly, but you just need to think about is this strategic?
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Is this going to help our mission to go forward when I communicate this way?
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So it's just, it's thinking about it rather than reacting quickly.
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So be strategic about your communication, about your next steps.
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You know it's interesting, Tim, and I did not talk about this before we started the show, so you may not actually hear this because we may edit it out, but you know, Tim, yours and my organization was part of the national debate or the national conversation around the election.
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You know, Tim, your organization is as deals with uh, refugees worldwide and, and my organization is, is Haiti, is Haitian.
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Those, those two topics were in the in the national discussion and, um, you know, I did some things, I navigated some things.
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Uh, I commuted some ways and you know, um, I, I think I did them well, Uh, but I, you know, I think I did them well, but you know, I don't know, Maybe it's too early to tell, but you know, sometimes you could, I think you could take a step back and say, okay, do I need to engage in this or not?
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No, the answer is no, I don't need to engage in this, but sometimes you do.
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If your organization is something that needs to engage and you don't, then you're going to be conspicuous by your absence.
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So I don't know if that helps or hurts anything, Tim, but you and I have been dealing with this Absolutely.
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Yeah, Okay, number two.
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So number one was be strategic.
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Number two is get input from your board on your plan, and I can't stress this one enough If you want to go vocal in whichever way, shape or form you want to go vocal, man, just make sure that you've got your board behind you.
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Your board is there to support you.
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Your board is also there to keep you from running off the cliff.
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That's their job, and so whatever plan you come up with, I would highly, highly recommend that you send that to them ahead of time and give them a little bit of time to have a reaction and respond to it.
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It just because what happens in these highly charged environments is you do something as the executive director and you basically are walking out on a limb all by yourself and then when that limb starts to bend because when you get out at the end, the limb is always going to start bending down and when you turn around for help, it's good to have people that are actually there to help you.
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So just you know, we highly recommend whatever plan you have, Make sure your board's in alignment with that.
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That's really good.
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You're not there by yourself.
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Uh, good and bad.
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You need to walk together with with your boards.
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That doesn't mean that your board's gonna necessarily agree with you.
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Correct, um and in.
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Actually, the best boards will be boards where you have both sides of that, because that means you have a well-rounded board.
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Just because your board gives you input and advice, it doesn't mean that you have to necessarily follow exactly what they say, unless your board says do not do that Now.
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If your board says do not do that Now, if you, if your board says do not do that, and then you do it, you get fired and that's the board's job.
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They could do that.
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They could, they can fire you or they could do whatever other punishment they want to do.
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But if you're soliciting feedback and they give you feedback and you take all of their feedback and that's how you formulate your plan, then I think you're okay and then you can move forward.
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So just get feedback from your board and make sure that they are there to support you whatever you decide to do.
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Number three get some perspective, and I think this is what Tim and I were talking about earlier is we use each other to get perspective because we don't always understand what other people are thinking, and so we use each other as a barometer, and I think so much of today's political anger and angst is because of how we consume our news.
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It's where our news comes from, especially when it comes from politics, soundbites and Facebook and X and for those of you that are maybe not as hip, on X, that's Twitter, tiktok, videos, and those sources are not there to inform you.
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They're not there to tell you about the facts.
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They are there to get clicks, to get engagement, and they do that by enraging you.
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And the other thing, tim, is the what do you call them?
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The algorithms.
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You know, on that social media, you watch one video that makes you upset.
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Well then, what's going to happen?
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You're going to get 700 of them, one after another, after another, after another, after another, and all of a sudden, you're five minutes in and you've done nothing but watch videos that make you angry.
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Well, okay, well, what do you?
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You know, what do you expect?
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You're going to feel after that Uh, and so I think it's just where we get our news.
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You, you've got to sit down with somebody who does not think the way you do, does not believe the way you do, and have a mature conversation with that person and get perspective of how they see the issue.
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It's important to have a bit of a skeptical mindset when it comes to media, and that doesn't mean that you lack positivity and all that.
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But, as you say, I've had so many people who go man, did you see this?
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I can't believe this, and blah, blah, blah.
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What's the source?
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What's the source of that story?
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Source what's the source of that story?
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And the importance of doing some checking and just not believe everything you say or sorry, everything that you hear, everything that you see.
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It's important to be skeptical and do some ongoing checking before you start passing things around things around.
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Yeah, and I think, as leaders, that's a prerequisite for us.
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I mean, if we are going to be out there leading the charge for whatever we're leading the charge for, is it not the bare minimum that we should have our facts straight, that we have read the document, that we have looked at the footnotes, that we have looked up the references, that we have read the document, that we have looked at the footnotes, that we have looked up the references, that we have not watched a six second video clip, but we watch the entire three hour.
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You know whatever it is.
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And so I guess what we're saying is just don't take everything as face value.
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Get some perspective and it will help you have a more well-rounded response.
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Okay, number four make sure that this is about the people you serve.
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Your organization's vision, your organization's mission Is whatever you ultimately plan to do up in number one, make a plan.
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Whatever that plan is, is that going to ultimately help the people you serve or is it going to hurt them?
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And you know, nobody could decide that for you.
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Tim can't decide it for you, I can't decide it for you.
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Only you can decide it for you, because ultimately it's your decision.
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You're the executive director.
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You're in the corner office with the big windows and the big paycheck behind you A little humor there, tim.
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You're the one that's making that choice, so only you could do that.
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And I think the final thing that we really, as leaders, need to look at is is this going to help the people we serve?
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Because, ultimately, if we lose sight of that, if we lose track of who we're trying to help, then we're in a whole world of problems at that point and you are, supposedly, you are the expert in this area.
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You've given your life, you've spent time, you understand the situation, and so you should be willing, not in being a jerk, but you should be able to advocate for those that you serve and help people understand what the truth is, what really are the facts, and being able to speak into that in a way that's helpful rather than in a way that's combative, because you will do a service for the people you serve if you're able to speak intelligently, directly, with the right spirit.
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It's about this mission that you're on, and not to lose sight of that.
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And it could very well be, tim that based on your organization's vision and mission and based on your values and based on the people you serve, and based on you know you've taken some time and you've got a plan and you talk to your board and you talk to, you know, somebody who thinks differently than you and you're pissed off.
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Well, okay, then go at it.
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We're not saying, don't have a particular response.
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What we're saying is make sure that you've thought it through and you've gone through the steps and you're just not reacting emotionally to a trigger that has happened to you and now you're just out of control.
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And the reason we bring that up and it's not that we're saying, oh well, our listeners are too immature to know this.
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That's what I'm seeing, that's what I'm hearing, that's what I'm experiencing, and it doesn't do anybody any good.
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And it's just it doesn't do anybody any good and it certainly doesn't move your organization forward.
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So, as leaders, we have to do better.
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So, as we mentioned, we're not here to tell you what to do and what not to do.
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What we are telling you is to set your plan intentionally, make sure you have your board with you on this, gain a better perspective and make sure what you're doing is for the betterment of the people that you're actually serving.
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And once you do those things and go after it, go after it with all you got.
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Just make sure you've done it the right way.
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Thank you for listening today.
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