Photo courtesy of Yung GrassHopper
In this special series, we’ll take a brief look at various different fearless inspirations from the past week or so. Whether it’s a fearless young change maker who is taking risks, a new publication that expresses bold and innovative ideas, or an organization that is promoting change and that is not afraid to fail forward—we want to shine a spotlight on them and their work in the hope that it will spark a new movement to Be Fearless.
As Jean Case, CEO of the Case Foundation wrote in a recent thought piece, “The old way of doing things is simply no longer effective in this new world. It’s time for us all to take risks on new ideas, approaches, and initiatives. It’s time for us to be bold, to act with urgency, and to resist the tendency to let caution be our guide. It’s time for us to Be Fearless.” Will you join us?
Leaning into Discomfort
Nonprofit Quarterly (NPQ) tackles to subject of “Social Sector Leadership in the 21st Century” in a recent article by its editors. As we face a number of pressing social issues related to hunger, poverty, clean water and education—just to name a few—how, and perhaps just as importantly, who can, lead us towards a solution?
NPQ interviewed Nancy Northup, of the Center for Reproductive Rights, Ai-jen Poo, of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and George Goehl, of National People’s Action. As the editors here note, these are “three leaders who are among those in each of their movements facing a political moment in which an enormous amount is at stake.”
How are they thinking about the political moment, and how are they and their organizations responding in terms of taking leadership?
The article synthesized the thoughts and comments of these leaders and identified a number of observations that speak to how we as Social Citizens, as nonprofit organizations and as individuals can prepare ourselves and confront in a fearless manner some of our world’s most pressing challenges. The spirit of the article calls for a shift in leadership and new approaches in order to be successful.
As Northrup states, “…leaning into discomfort, I think, is critical, to make sure that what we are doing—both externally… and internally, at the organization level—is bold enough. The organization had better be feeling discomfort if it’s leaning into new strategies and ways of working.”
The article concludes that, “Social-sector leadership is not and should not be accompletely comfortable role. In a world full of current and future ambiguities, leaders have to stay nimble and ready to rebalance their organizations to fit most powerfully into a whole field/movement strategy. The skills of consultation and engagement with other leaders inside and outside of an organization are never entirely straightforward but have to be kept moving in the right direction whenever a door seems to crack open—or needs to be cracked open.
In connected environments, leaders know that networks are always teetering on the edge of balance, requiring many small adjustments to achieve a measure of dynamic stasis. I have found that a network leader has to be in constant motion, paying attention to the habits and the small stimuli needed to incessantly reconstitute balance and motion. One must learn to feel the current of change, look for and recognize resonance, and deploy oneself not as prod, but as a pivot for the many moments of change that are called for every day.”
Are you challenging yourself and your organization? Are you a leader that runs towards “discomfort” when it can help you be more effective and identify new approaches?