Nonprofit Leadership, Innovation, and Change

Walking with people who are great

One of the things I’ve worked extremely hard on the last year is to surround myself with people who are the best at what they do. Whether it be athletes, speakers, leaders, coaches, or writers, I’ve done whatever I could to put myself in situations where I had the opportunity to spend time with the best of the best.

As a result I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with, and working with Jason Womack over the last year. Just being in his presence has made me sharp when it comes to productivity and managing what I do with my time (not managing my time).

There are several people in my office who admire how easily I manage projects and complete tasks. They wonder how I can send, receive, and process emails without ever having to touch the mouse.

This is just a byproduct of spending time with Jason. It’s that simple, I didn’t have to pay $5,000 to attend a weeklong conference on time management. I just spent some time with him one-to-one, I helped him put together two workshops, and I’ve read his blog for a while now.

Several years ago I read a great book by Claude M. Bristol called, The Magic of Believing. In the book Claude stated, “If you want to be great, you have to walk with people who are great.”

Surround yourself with the best, and even though you might not become the best, you will become better.

Thoughts from a Marketer

Seth Godin has an interesting post titled, Marketing the Charity Auction targeted towards nonprofit sector that he shared on Friday.

Having held auctions in the past for A Day of Hope, Seth's post gave me a couple of fresh ideas for future events.

One Man Can Lead

Over the last six months I’ve developed a friendship with someone who has done a lot to add value to me and A Day of Hope. He is proof that you don’t have to be the Executive Director of an organization with 20+ employees to be categorized as a leader.

He proves that all you need is a computer and internet connection in a garage. That’s what my friend Steve Mastretta has done and built over the past year. A man with a computer and internet connection has become one of the leaders among online marketing gurus for small nonprofit organizations.

Steve is the marketing coordinator for the Food for Everyone Foundation (FFEF). Not only does he use his marketing genius to fundraise and build support for FFEF, he is starting to write eBooks and to help his fellow nonprofit marketing coordinators. He’s recently written eBooks about how to fundraise money from Squidoo, GoodSearch, Helium, and many others.

What started as a man who was only leading himself in his garage, is now leading many other nonprofit marketers.

Steve, keep up the great work!

When is a leader needed the most?

A leader is needed the most when it’s time for:

• Change
• Growth
• Goal Setting
• Visioning
• Transition
• Hiring & Firing

Doing what you don't have to do

That’s what leaders do.

They do what they don’t have to do. They attend meetings that aren’t required, they perform tasks that are outside of their job descriptions, and they tackle projects that they could easily not do.

They do this in an effort to support the people that they lead. Recently one of our leaders from A Day of Hope asked me if I would like to participate on her Relay for Life team. As you might already know, Relay for Life is an extremely large fundraiser that the American Cancer Society hosts in local communities all over America. Honestly, the event was during an extremely busy time of the year for me, and I already had two other very large projects that I was leading.

However, without hesitation I said “yes” to her and let her know I would do everything I could to support her efforts. There was no way I was going to tell her “no.” So many times she helped and supported me with A Day of Hope for three years, and I wasn’t going to let her down. I made the commitment to help and support her by exceeding her request and surpassing her expectations of the event.

Another friend of mine owns a national real estate investment firm. Her company invests in properties all over the United States, and Mexico too! When she asked me if I would like to attend one of their Investor Conference Calls, I said “yes” without hesitation.

Let me tell you that I have don’t have nearly enough money to invest in property, and I had no interest in learning. But I made the visit and dialed into the three hour conference call to support her. Since then our friendship has grown and developed into the great friendship we have today.

My point is that great leaders don’t just do the minimum. They do things that they don’t have to do.

This expands their leadership influence, and builds relationships to help them along the way.

I'm off to L.A.

I'm going to be in L.A. for some training Tuesday & Wednesday of this week (May 6th & 7th).

If you live in the area and want to meet up for some coffee or food drop me a note.

Leadership Arguments - Pushing vs. Pulling

Last month I participated in a two and a half hour long city council meeting debating about why we should or shouldn’t extend the time our local Emergency Cold Whether Homeless Shelter is open. Arguments went back and forth, people pointed fingers, others slightly raised their voices, and almost everyone shook their heads.

I was included in the group who were shaking their heads. As I watched the debate I knew we were involved in a losing battle. I was on the side believing that we needed to extend the shelter for another 30 days so people had a place to stay in the rainy month of April (yes, it rains in California).

Our side was clearly more passionate and it showed—too much. I shook my head time after time because I saw passionate person after passionate person point their fingers at the City Council telling them they should spend a night in the cold to know what its like to be homeless.

Another person said the entire council should sit in a 40 degree refrigerator for an hour and know what it feels like to spend a winter night in Turlock, California. We were losing the argument, and we weren’t doing the right things to it get back on track.

My experience from being someone going against a group of people has been about pulling and not pushing. The people last month were pushing that City Council to make a decision. They were pushing them to think a certain way and didn’t care where they were, they just wanted to push them to their side of the table.

I’ve always pulled. I let the people I’m arguing with know that I realize where they’re sitting on this topic and why they're sitting there.

This builds rapport and a likability feeling between both of us. Then I let them know where I sit on the issue and why I’m sitting there. At this point we’re on the same side and I’ve showed that even though I don’t agree with them, I understand and respect why they believe what they believe. Once I’m here, now I’m ready to pull them to my side of the table.

I state their point back to them, just as good as they stated to it to me, if not better. Acknowledging their points and letting them know I respect their opinion. Then I dive into my argument because I finally have the foundation to make a case. I’m selling them on my vision and I’m pulling them to my side of the table with respect, enthusiasm, passion, and a little humor to break the ice.

This has worked many times when asking for donations for A Day of Hope to community groups who have money to give. Often it was only me speaking to a group of thirty or forty people about why I believed they should make a donation to my organization.

When you point your finger at someone, you’re actually pointing three back at you. In the case of City Council last month there were five fingers pointing back at us (four City Council members and the Mayor). When you point fingers at people, you’re pushing them away and creating disconnect from what you’re trying to convince them about. You need to draw them in close by letting them know you understand and respect the reasons that they’re sitting where they are, and then use respect, enthusiasm, passion, and humor to pull them to your side of the table.

Dirty Running Shoes

For Christmas Santa Claus brought me a new pair of running shoes. I usually prefer Converse, but this Christmas he brought me some Nike’s.

It’s only four months after Christmas and those shoes are new longer new. By many people’s standards they are ready to be replaced. They’re dirty, worn out, and as you probably guessed they smell like sweaty feet.

I recently wrote a post titled, Beaten, Scared, Tired, & Torn talking about how I want to make it to heaven sliding in head first. Worn out and beaten having used every single once of energy in my body.

That’s what a leader does—he gives it everything he’s got and a little bit more. He doesn’t hold anything back, he puts himself on the line where he can be vulnerable. He gives every ounce of effort, energy, and enthusiasm for his cause in hopes of having an impact on the world.

When a leader is wearing and burning himself out, this is shared with others. Hard work and dedication is contagious and it’s easily transferred to others.

I hope you wear out yourself as I’ve worn out my running shoes, and I hope you inspire others to do the same along the way.

Criticism

Last month I sat down with two people who were involved with in projects that I’ve led. I sat both of these people down for one reason: to have them give me some constructive criticism on my ability as a leader.

I had great intentions and excitement about having them tell me how I could become a better leader. We sat down and talked for about two hours and even though I didn’t receive as much feedback as I had hoped, what I did learn was very helpful.

Over the next couple of weeks find someone you’ve led either on a project, in a meeting, or at your organization and ask them how you can improve as a leader. I recommended you do this on a one-on-one basis in a safe and private setting. Be sure to communicate to the other person that the best way they can help you is by being extremely honest.

Give this a try, and you’ll be surprised at what you learn.

Go Somewhere New

My post from yesterday titled, Difficulties was written from the perspective of trying new and difficult things as a way to grow ourselves.

Kim & Jason have a great post about going places we've never went before.

Give it a shot and let them know how it goes.

Difficulties

In M. Scott Peck’s book, The Road Less Traveled he opens the first chapter with three simple words, “Life is difficult.”

The Road Less Traveled is known as one of the best-selling personal development books ever. Well, Dr. Peck was right. Life is difficult; people get knocked down, trip over themselves, and they make mistakes.

The proposal you worked on for thirteen straight hours was turned down, the great leader you asked to work for you went somewhere else, and the person who donated so generously to your organization last year didn’t even return your last three phone calls when you tried to ask again this year.

But you know what, often what’s difficult becomes easy because it forces us to grow and develop ourselves as leaders.

Parameters & Guidelines

I have a very difficult project I’m faced with right now with A Day of Hope. After leading the organization for three years I’m working to pass my leadership position onto several other people to keep the organization going.

The most difficult task I’m faced with is to mentor and train them to be the true leaders of the group. I want them to be self sufficient and ready to rock-n-roll without me. Don’t get me wrong, I love to lead and I love A Day of Hope, but I also want to teach others to lead.

As I’ve started to give the members of A Day of Hope more and more freedom to make decisions I left an important ingredient out. As we’ve sat in several meetings this year, I’ve looked to them to generate ideas and make decisions. However, I failed to let them know what the parameters and guidelines for those ideas and decisions were. I told them I wanted us to have at least one fundraising or friendraising event by May. However, I didn’t tell them what I wanted the outcome of the even to be, or what people we wanted to target to have attend the event. As a result they started off doing their own thing and not going in a direction that I wanted.

At that time I had to take a step back, share my vision again, and give them additional parameters and guidelines for what I would like them to do. When mentoring other leaders and giving them the responsibility to take on their own projects you have to give them parameters and guidelines.

You still need to share your vision, but you need to be more specific since they’re going to be the one executing the vision, not you.

It takes money to fundraise money

One thing that I’ve been proud of in the past is a small amount of ability God gave me to bring in donations for A Day of Hope and other projects. I will admit that I’m certainly not the best at asking for donations from private individuals, but it’s something I’ve learned to do over the years.

It’s a common statement among business leaders, “It takes money to make money.” This is very true. It’s difficult to build a business from the ground up, especially when you don’t have any capital to start with.

As nonprofit leaders I believe it takes at least a little money to fundraise money. I’ve always asked for donations on a one-to-one basis, only asking people I have solid relationships with and when I know there is a very good chance they will say “yes” and donate.

The most common way I ask is to offer to take the business person to lunch, schedule a time to come by their office to talk, or ask them before or after a meeting we’re both attending. If I know the person well enough and he has donated in the past, I usually just call and ask for the donation over the phone.

However, it does take a little money to fundraise money. I will admit that every time I’ve taken a business leader to coffee or lunch to ask for a donation, I’ve always let him know that I was planning to pay for the meal or drink. It’s very difficult to ask for a donation when the person is going to be giving you a free lunch too!

It takes money to get to the point where we have a solid and good enough relationship to ask a business leader for a donation, often we need to have lunch with them, refer them some business, attend the same meetings, or socialize at other events.

One of the problems I’ve had with a past job is that my salary was so small that that I didn’t have the ability to take business leaders to coffee or lunch to build relationships and ask for donations. I noticed very quickly a small dip in the money I raised for the simple fact that I wasn’t spending and investing money in relationships with business leaders.

So, I found a way to get my hands on gift cards to Starbucks and local restaurants. I learned my own art of persuasion to get business leaders to go to restaurants and coffee houses that I had gift cards for.

My point is that fundraising on the private level takes time and money. There are people who I’ve been developing relationships with for months and I haven’t asked for a donation yet. I’ve taken them to coffee, given them books, purchased them lunch, and referred them business just for the sake of getting to know them better. All of these took time and money to accomplish. So when the time comes to ask for a donation, I know who I can call on because I’ve done the work of investing time and money into that person.

I want to point out that even though I’ve worked hard and spent money to invest in these relationships, I’ve met and now have some great friends. I consider past donors to be some of my closest friends, and I’m forever indebted to them for what they’ve done for me and the people that we’ve served for A Day of Hope.

So when you start to fundraise for your organization, don’t be scared to spend a little money so you can start to fundraise a little money.

How to Cast Vision (and set goals)

I will admit that I’m a young leader, I haven’t led fortune 500 companies or led a multi-million dollar nonprofit, but I have learned the best way for me to cast my vision to my team. For a little while now I’ve wanted to share with you my formula for casting my vision and setting goals with the people I lead. Here is the method I’ve been using for several years now:

1. State the Goal – This is usually when I see a couple of eyebrows raise. My goals are always Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG). I’ve always believed in the “Go big or go home” way to running organizations or working on projects. When I state our goal there is always a specific number we are shooting for, and a date to accomplish it by.
2. Why – Why is the goal so important? Why is it a must for us to not just reach our goal, but exceed it? What will happen when we get there? What will happen if we don’t? This is where I sell my team on why we must find a way to reach our goals, and let them know how painful it will be if we don’t. This is the motivating and driving force to get us moving toward our goals.
3. How – I will admit when I cast vision I don’t always know how we are going to get there. I always know what it will look like when we get to there, but when I’m not sure I’m always honest with my team and tell them I will “find a way.” The how always comes later, because if I’m clear enough on the “why” we will find the “how.”
4. Answers Questions & Objections – This is where you learn who is going to get on the bus, and who isn’t. After the first three steps I answer questions, listen to concerns, and I let my team know that I’m not going to let them down.

I guess this is more like a way to set goals, but casting vision is just sharing your goals with your team and getting them to buy in on them.

Who is harder to lead?

Last month someone asked me, “Christopher, how do I lead in a culture of followers?”

My response was, “Well, it’s easier to lead a bunch of followers than it is to lead a bunch of leaders.” Followers are usually like sheep, they will work hard and do what they’re asked, but they need to be led. They need someone who has experience, knowledge, and the courage to lead and protect them.

Leaders on the other hand are ready to lead. They want to create change, initiate, and make a name for themselves. All they need is for a leader to share the vision and then let them go make it happen. The skills required to lead followers is minimal; they’re ready for you to lead them so all you usually have to do is declare yourself as the leader and take charge.

So, the long answer to a short question is: “It’s easy to lead a culture of followers, and more difficult to lead leaders.”

Maximum Impact Summary

After hours and hours of hard work preparing for Maximum Impact, we had a great day. We had 48 people attend the event, and everyone had a great time and learned a lot about leadership.

In an effort for me to maximize what I learned, I’m going to share with you some of my new distinctions that I had at the event from each speaker:

Andy Andrews:

• “The economic downturn is a point on the graph.” – Not everyone is devasted during times of Crisis. In a slow economy there are always companies losing money, and there are always companies making money.
• “We don’t need to wait on God, most of the time God is waiting on us.” – We can’t just sit around and wait for God to make things happen for us. We need to make things happen for him.

    John C. Maxwell:

• “Don’t send your ducks to eagle school.” – Find talented people, and keep them in their talent area.
• “Follow the three L’s; Listen, Learn, & Lead.” – This is a simple three step process to get in touch with what you’re people are going through.
• “People who come to your funeral are going to summarize your life in one sentence. Don’t let them guess, pitch it to them now!” – Start to live your life the way you want people to describe you. Dr. Steven Covey calls this, Beginning with the End in Mind.

    Bill Taylor:

• “Don’t be a problem solver, be a solution finder.” – If you’re a solution finder then you find solutions before problems become problems. A problem solver is reactive, a solution finder is proactive.

    Andy Stanley:

• “Your organization is the solution to the problem” – This is the key to your vision, and it establishes a need and urgency with you and the people of your organization.
• “Vision begins with a burden” – That burden is two things: 1) The problem that your organization needs to solve; and 2) The talent and skills that God gave you to solve that problem.

    Kevin Carroll:

• “Find encouragement” – Get around encouraging people who will push and inspire you.

    Dick Vitale:

• “Leadership is the ability to set the pace” – Set the pace as a leader with your passion, work ethic, character, and teamwork mentality.
• “It’s an unbelievable ability to make a dream a reality.”

    Pat Lencioni:

• “Managing and leading people is probably the greatest opportunity that we will ever have to make a difference in the world” – This statement will make you think twice about retiring.

If you didn't have the opportunity to attend Maximum Impact, I suggest you add it to your calendar for next year. It's an amazing event where you have nine different speakers share the stage for 30 minutes each. With limited time, each speakers gives you his very best content on leadership.

Here's the link for next year's event.

Communication & Forest Gump

Great communication is one of the vital qualities of a nonprofit leader. To share your vision and goals for your organization, you have to be able to communicate it simply and clearly.

I came across this funny joke about the communication between God and Forest Gump.

Enjoy. . . .
- - - - - - - - -
FORREST GUMP GOES TO HEAVEN

The day finally arrived. Forrest Gump dies and goes to Heaven.

He is at the Pearly Gates, met by St. Peter himself. However, the gates are closed, and Forrest approaches the gatekeeper.

St. Peter said, 'Well, Forrest, it is certainly good to see you. We have heard a lot about you. I must tell you, though, that the place is filling up fast, and we have been administering an entrance examination for everyone.

The test is short, but you have to pass it before you can get into Heaven.'

Forrest responds, 'It sure is good to be here, St. Peter, sir. But nobody ever told me about any entrance exam. I sure hope that the test ain't too hard. Life was a big enough test  as it was.'

St. Peter continued, 'Yes, I know, Forrest, but the test is only three questions.

First: What two days of the week begin with the letter T?

Second: How many seconds are there in a year?

Third: What is God's first name?

'Forrest leaves to think the questions over. He returns the next day and sees St. Peter, who waves him up, and says, 'Now that you have had a chance to think the questions over, tell me your answers.

Forrest replied, 'Well, the  first one --which two days in the week begins with the letter 'T'?

Shucks, that one is easy. That would be Today and Tomorrow.

'The Saint's eyes opened wide and  he exclaimed, 'Forrest, that is not what I was thinking, but you do have a point, and I guess I did not specify, so I will give you credit for that answer.

How about the next one?' asked St. Peter. 'How many seconds in a year?

Now that one is harder,' replied Forrest, but I thunk and thunk about that, and I guess the only answer can be twelve.

'Astounded, St. Peter said, Twelve? Twelve? Forrest, how in Heaven's name could you come up with twelve seconds in a year?

' Forrest replied, 'Shucks, there's got to be twelve: January 2nd, February 2nd, March 2nd...'

'Hold it,' interrupts St.  Peter. 'I see where you are going with this,and I see your point, though that was  not quite what I had in mind....but I will have to give you credit for that one, too.

Let us go on with the third and final question.

Can you tell me God's first name'?

'Sure,' Forrest replied, 'it's Andy.'

'Andy?' exclaimed an exasperated  and frustrated St. Peter. 'Ok, I can understand how you  came up with your answers to my first two questions, but just how in the world did you come up with the name Andy as the first name of God?'

'Shucks, that was the easiest one of all, 'Forrest replied. 'I learnt it from the song, 'ANDY WALKS WITH ME, ANDY TALKS WITH ME, ANDY TELLS ME I AM HIS OWN...'

St. Peter opened the Pearly Gates, and said: 'Run Forrest, run.'

A Big Day

Tomorrow is a big day for me.

I've spent over four months leading about 11 different people to organize our local Maximum Impact site. It still amazes me how much work it takes to make events like this and A Day of Hope happen.

After leading lots of events similiar to Maximum Impact, I always take a step back to realize all the hard work was worth it. In the end I always see a tangible impact and difference that we made.

The impact and difference that was made, makes all the hard work taste very sweet.

Cheers to a successful event tomorrow!

Great Causes

My friend Roger Carr is pursuing a goal over at the Everyday Giving Blog. You might have noticed the new badge on the left side of my blog titled, "Help Stomp Out Arthritis" which I've added to support Roger and his fundraising efforts.

I've always loved helping good causes, and Roger is working on a great cause to help fundraise money for the Arthritis Foundation. Monday he set a goal to raise $1,000 by May 1st, and as of 5am on Friday morning he has already raised $575.

Do me a favor and take a couple of minutes to read about juvenile arthritis, and if you feel compelled to give a small amount, please do so.

The Identity of a Leader

The identity of a leader is exactly that; he seems himself as a leader.

One of the turning points in my life was when I changed my identity (well, my name is still the same, so not really). In my younger years I always saw myself as a person who worked hard but often didn’t get the results that I wanted.

After leading a couple of successful projects I realized that I was a leader. Leading people seemed to be something that I had a little bit of natural talent for (not much, but a little). I really enjoyed working with other people as a team to move and pursue goals that would help people in need.

I began to see myself as a leader and as a builder. I wasn’t someone to maintain the status quo of an organization or program.

The most powerful force of the human mind is the identity of who we are and our desire to remain consistent with that identity. When you’re a person of integrity, you’re not going to embezzle money from your organization. If you’re a person of faith, you’re not going to read satanic books. If you’re a leader, you’re not going to act like a push-over.

Your identity determines who you are, who you are determines what you do, and what you do determines your impact on the world.

Passionate Leadership

As I sat on the opposite end of a desk from this business owner, my anger and disgust continued to grow and multiply. Yes, he was my friend but his comments and outlook toward the nonprofit and social sector were not what I agreed with.

When he finished I started into my argument, tearing apart his statements and explaining to him the “real” story of what happened. He realized that I was a little angry and that I didn’t agree with his point of view. This was something that pulled and tugged at our friendship.

On another occasion I was standing in front of a group of thirty people with a proposal in their hand for money that I was asking for A Day of Hope. I was one person trying to convince thirty people why it was a good idea for them to make their largest ever donation to my organization. They didn’t agree with me, and I didn’t agree with them.

After the meeting there were three people who very passionately disagreed with me and believed A Day of Hope shouldn’t receive a donation. They thought it was a bad idea, I thought it was a good idea, and let them know how I felt about it. Since then I haven’t talked very much with those three people. However, the group ended up donating more money to A Day of Hope than they had ever given to any other organization!

The two situations I’ve outlined above were very difficult. I could have sat passively and pretended to agree, but I chose to speak my mind.

In the first story with the business owner I easily could have lost him as a friend, we disagreed on a couple of topics but we’re still friends to this day. For the three people in the group I talked about, we don’t talk much. We were friends at one time, now we are not.

Yes, it hurts a little bit, but this is the price nonprofit leaders have to pay. It’s what happens when they are passionate about what they do. It’s what happens when someone says something about their industry which they disagree with. It’s what happens when they make the commitment to speak their mind and advocate for the people they serve.

When I was launching A Day of Hope in 2006 I made 39 presentations in 45 days to groups, classes, clubs, business people, and community foundations to talk about what we were doing in an attempt to get them involved. It didn’t take long for me to realize that some people disagreed with what I was doing. Sometimes it was even people who knew me very well that disagreed.

My point is that as nonprofit leaders we must believe in what we do so much that we’re willing to make a couple of people mad to help and serve others. There will be friends that we will lose because of what we do, and there will be people who disagree with the work we’re doing. It’s going to happen and we need to embrace this by continuing to lead.

What Not to Do (or say)

Recently while reading Grassroots Philanthropy by Bill Somerville I realized that knowing what not to do is just as important as knowing what to do. In his book, Bill says, “In other words, I couldn’t have received any better preparation for my subsequent career as a foundation executive. I knew exactly what not to do.” He is referring to his young years digging through piles of paperwork and miles of bureaucracy while applying and keeping up with grants.

In my new eBook I talk about mentors and how important they are. I also explain that you can learn just as much from people who are bad at what they do, as you can from people who are good at what they do.

Start by listening to what successful and unsuccessful people say. You’ll be surprised at their difference in words and attitude towards other people.

Before you know it, you will know exactly what not to say.

Quick Update

Just wanted to write everyone a quick update on my latest project.
Our organization is the main benefit charity for the local Canadian Tour golf tournament coming to our city of Modesto. Here is a link for more formation.

Someone found out that I played on a golf scholarship while in college, so they thought it would be easy for me to recruit the 100+ caddies that are required to make the event possible. No caddies,no golf tournament-lots of pressure!
After several 13+ hour work days, hundreds of phone calls and emails, I'm almost done.

Over the past two weeks of this project I've learned and gained some new insights on leadership that I will be sharing with you soon.

So, stay tuned. .  .

Making Your Best Better

I wasn't going to post any new content until April, but this can't wait!

Today I had the pleasure of spending three hours learning and growing in my ability to be productive.

My friend Jason Womack of the Jason Womack Company presented a three hour workshop to thirty of my fellow nonprofit leaders and I in what was one of the greatest workshops I've attended in a long time.

No joke, I could have listened and learned all day and all night.

The principles and ideas I learned today to help me manage what I do with my time relating to be productive was amazing.

The best part is that you don't have to attend a three hour workshop to learn much of what Jason teaches. Most of what his work is given away for free on his blog, which you can find here.

Thank You

I want to say thank you.

Thank you for reading, thank you paying attention, and thank you for wanting to grow and develop as a leader.

It's been such a joy to share with you what I've learned from leading an organization and many other projects. I often tell people I wish I had a mentor to help me when I was young. Someone who would have pulled me aside and said, "Look young kid, you don't  know what you're doing, but I respect your enthusiasm and passion. Let me teach you what I know and help you get pointed in the right direction."

My goal is to be that person. I want to be the person who pulls you aside and gives you some advice and tips on how to be a better leader. I want to be the person who helps you help others.

The sad fact is that I didn't have anyone do this to me. I was, "winging it" as High School friends would call it.

I've had to learn the hard way: from failure and pain.

It's been such a joy to spend the last year writing for you on a daily basis. You've given more to me than I could ever give to you.

With that said, this will be my last post until sometime in April.

PS - I'm working on a very exciting project that will take over a year to start. More information on this will be in the coming months.