NH mom of 3 – Thank you for your kind words. It’s always great to hear from someone who seems to appreciate Heather’s Best Ever Baked Chicken like I do.

Jen and Rebecca- I really appreciate your buying in with my flattened triangle model. I sincerely believe that the more we encourage young nonprofit professionals to approach their development creatively and the more we tap their latent talent, the more attractive this flattened model will become. In fact, I would go so far as to say, the triangle will flatten itself.

And finally, anonymous. I love you too and I’ll see you when I get home.

I like what Jen said about encouraging our peers – often we wait for someone older to “take us under their wing,” when we can help push/motivate each other to grow.

Welcome NH Mom! Cool blog – makes me want to cook every night

Rebecca- thank YOU for sharing your thoughts on co-leadership models. Some organizations are looking for new ways, but they hesitate because they’ve never seen co-directorships in operation before. I’d REALLY love to hear more about how it would work (division of labor/responsibility, etc.) in your nonprofit.

Also, I LOVE the idea of the flattening of the hierarchy. This is supposedly the trend but very few organizations are doing it. When we have enough money to hire someone else, I’ll be hiring a co-ED or dual-ED, not someone beneath me.

Thanks for sharing!

Great interview, and I love Eric’s concept of “flattening the heirarchical triangle” as a goal.

Leadership is something anyone in any position at any level within any organization can do – I think the more we encourage our peers to lead from ‘within the day job’ the more leaders we’ll see confidently pushing those old guard boundaries.