Now Generation Leadership | Rosetta Thurman

12 Ways to Pass the Torch: Trusting a New Generation to Sustain the Social Justice Movement

September 11, 2010 by rosettathurman · Leave a Comment

One of the great things about the Southern Partners Fund 2010 Regional Grantee Gathering is that one of the main breakout sessions is called Passing the Torch: Trusting the Next Generation to Sustain the Social Justice Movement. As the session gets underway, participants acknowledge the importance of preparing new leaders for nonprofit work. They affirm the fact that there has always been youth engagement in major social justice movements.

The session begins with an invitation for participants to reflect on their own leadership journey. They were asked: When did you first realize you were a leader? What did you do? What impact did it have on you?

Some of their stories:

For one man, it started back in his homeland of Peru. He and his wife decided to come to the U.S. to create a better life for their family. He had a job, but it left no time for him to spend with his kids, and he no longer wanted work like a slave at his job.
One woman went to a workshop that changed her life and inspired her to lead.
One man was inspired by his grandmother who got things done for the community through her church – roads paved, etc.
One woman organized a walk-out at her school in the 10th grade over a problem in her school and the teacher they had a problem with lost his job.
One woman became a leader when she became a mother and realized that she wanted to do something good in the world as a responsibility to her children.
One woman recalls when there were immigration raids in Miami Dade County. She was inspired to quit her job to fight the border patrol and educate Latinos about their rights.

All of the leaders were very proud of the work they had been able to do in the community. Most of them were Baby Boomers and were in the session to figure out ways they could pass their legacy of leadership down to the new generation of leaders. One woman talked about her goal (and frustration) to give voice to the young people in her organization. Although they were challenged in adopting social media, participants pointed out the potential value of the tools to advance their causes with the help of younger leaders. The main idea of the session was to emphasize the fact that “passing the torch” has to be intentional because in the nonprofit sector, we’re so busy doing the work to think about sustainability.

Participants discussed several challenges and opportunities related to supporting and developing the new generation of social justice leaders.

Barriers to Passing the Torch

Understanding that the values of each generation are the same, but the needs are very different.
The complex and technical nature of some of our work.
Not being able to come to consensus about the importance of passing the torch. Organizations can be divided on the value of that knowledge and power transfer.
Trust factor – because of previous bad experiences with staff, it can be hard to invite other young people into the organization.
No time to develop a relevant curriculum for leadership development.
We often model bad processes in doing the work – no money, overworked, etc – young people may not even want the torch when we get done with it.
Sharing power and giving them the room and grace to make mistakes.
Resistance to change.
Stereotypes of “younger people” that they are so much more different than older leaders.
Perceived protocols in how young people interact with elders.

Different Levels of Leadership

One leader in the session urged the group to begin thinking about organizational leadership in terms of levels: primary, secondary, and tertiary leaders. He said his job as an Executive Director is to move everyone into that primary circle. If a person starts today, a year from now hopefully you can move them to a higher level.

How can this apply to young people?

Test them out on small things to see what they can do. Leadership development does not happen by itself – if you want to nurture younger leaders, give them opportunities for reflection. And make time for yourself to look at who is in each level and set goals for yourself to move them from one level to another. It’s also important to develop leaders not just to take over as the Director of your organization, but to prepare them to be able to go out and lead in an effective way in any other leadership role they may take. For example, if one of your former staff becomes Chief of Police, they can do that work with the understanding of the big community picture. Young people may not always work in nonprofits throughout their career, but through your organization, they can be educated in the work and be advocates for your cause long after they leave you.

Strategies for Passing the Torch

Host focus groups – ask the young people on your staff what’s working and what’s not working.
Designate a person in your organization whose focus is making sure young people are engaged in the organization.
Board governance – give young people a seat at the board table.
Recognize the value of young people as leaders, not tokens.
Make it a part of your bylaws and codify the value of having young people at the table in your organization.
Ensure visibility of young people at organizational events.
Replicate other organizational models that are working.
Build relationships and meet young people where they are. Meet with them face to face and connect with them on social networks.
Self-reflection – be honest with ourselves about our organizational issues. Become vulnerable again to ask questions and see how we can make things better for everyone.
Help young people build their own torch.
Define what “the work” is for yourself before trying to teach young leaders. We throw around the term a lot about “the work” and we know what it is since we’ve been doing it for so long, but others may not.
Show young people that there is value in doing nonprofit you can make enough money to support yourself in this field.

Out of all of these ideas and strategies that came out of the session, the one about helping young people to build their own torch is the one that stood out for me the most. For me, leadership development is about making the space for people to grow in their own way, not telling them exactly what to do.

Full disclosure: Southern Partners Fund paid me to provide blogging services for this event to leverage the power of social media to share their stories with the wider philanthropic community. The views expressed here are solely my own, however, and I stand by my commitment to authentic coverage of these issues.

How’d You Get That Job? The Story of a Thirtysomething Executive Director

August 5, 2010 by rosettathurman · 4 Comments

This is a guest post by Laura Zabel, executive director of Springboard for the Arts, an organization out of St.Paul, Minnesota which connects artists with resources. Laura previously appeared on my radio show for the special episode, A Day in the Life of a Young Nonprofit Executive Director.

When I present at conferences or meet with people who are interested in nonprofit careers, there is always at least someone who asks me, “So, how’d you get that job?” When I first started 5 years ago, this question stung a bit (in the same category as “Wow, you’re younger than I expected.”) But now, as I’ve proved to myself that I can do this job, I see that people are just genuinely curious about my career path and how, after holding positions as an executive assistant and then a development manager at mid-size organizations, I came to be the executive director of a 20 year old organization at 30. So, I’ve tried to pull some useful tips from my experience for other emerging leaders hoping to make the transition to an executive director role:

Apply for it. That’s my flip answer, but it’s also true. I think sometimes, emerging leaders spend a lot of time pointing out how few younger executive directors there are in the field and assuming that no one would hire them for those positions without actually going for it and throwing their hat in the ring. I remember very clearly reading the job description for my position to my husband and telling him, “That’s like my dream job in 10 years.” and he said, “Well, then maybe you should apply for it.” Oh, right. It’s very hard to get a job you didn’t apply for.
Passion for the mission. It wasn’t (and still isn’t) my dream to be an executive director, it was my dream to change my community and to help and advocate for artists. I know that I probably wouldn’t have had an interview for an ED position at a different organization, but a real, authentic passion for the mission is hard to ignore. I was a constituent of the organization and invested in the community that the organization serves. When I hire new staff now, this is my number one criteria.
Figure out how to add up all your experiences to equal something more than the parts. In my previous jobs I’d taken on a lot of new projects and tasks that weren’t originally part of my job (who doesn’t do this at small orgs, right?) and I was able to show the hiring committee that having all those experiences made me familiar with a lot of different facets of running an organization. I served on the board of a tiny organization. I’d also started and run one major side project that showed that I could, in fact, be in charge of things like budgets and people (even if they were all volunteers!)
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, to find organizations that might be willing to take a risk on you, you’re going to have to take a risk on them. The fact is, the job I have now, wasn’t the job I applied for 5 years ago. There were some pretty big issues facing the organization – financially, strategically, and brand-wise. It was a job that people with a lot more experience than me probably didn’t want or couldn’t afford to take. But the organization also had a strong history, and a really engaged staff and board, who were committed to the mission and willing to do the work to set a new vision. They took a big risk on me and they were also willing to continue to support and mentor me, which made me feel comfortable taking a risk on them.

Laura Zabel is the Executive Director of Springboard for the Arts. Based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Springboard for the Arts is a leader in the field of artist service and provides arts focused economic, business and career development services for artists of all disciplines and at all stages of their careers. Since 1978, Springboard has served more than 70,000 artists and cultural organizations throughout the upper Midwest.

In 2010, Laura was named one of Twin Cities Business Journal’s 40 Under Forty and Springboard won the Social Entrepreneur’s Cup award which recognizes Minnesota’s most innovative and effective social entrepreneur and the organization they lead. Laura has been a featured presenter at the National Association of Artists Organizations conference and the National Performing Arts Convention. She has presented classes and workshops on nonprofit organizations, fiscal sponsorship, fundraising and other topics for groups all across the Midwest. Laura serves on the City of Saint Paul Cultural STAR Board. In addition to her work at Springboard, Laura is an actor in the Twin Cities and has worked with companies such as Theatre in the Round and the Brave New Workshop. Laura has her undergraduate degree in theatre from the University of Kansas, where she serves on the Professional Advisory Board for the Department of Theatre. You can connect with Laura on Twitter @laurazabel

Filed Under: Career Advice, Leadership · Tagged With: Career Advice, how to become a nonprofit executive director, Laura Zabel, Leadership, Now Generation Leadership, young executive directors

Weekend Reading: Rethinking Leadership, No More Master’s Degrees and Reverse Mentoring

May 1, 2010 by rosettathurman · 4 Comments

A few awesome posts popped up in my reader this week, and I thought of you. Do they spark any new ideas for your life and work?

Sue Ashford and Scott DeRue offer some clarifying thoughts on the Harvard Business Review blog regarding how we define leadership. Hint: it’s not about the position.

When we relax the common presumption that leadership is reserved for those with lofty job titles, our conceptualization shifts from saying, “she is a leader” to examining how, “she is leader like or a leader” in a particular situation.

Akhila Kolisetty says our generation is overeducated and underexperienced, when really it should be the other way around.

In my opinion, much of what you learn in many Master’s degrees isn’t necessary for career success or progress. Only the few professional degrees, such as law, medicine, or business, equip you with skill sets – things you can’t learn on your own. Master’s degrees in most other areas strike me as unnecessary as most of what you need to know can be picked up on the job in the majority of fields other than law, medicine, pharmacy, engineering, college-level teaching, or computer science (I am sure I’ve forgotten other careers that require graduate study – enlighten me if I have).

Bob Sutton explains why newcomers often see things more clearly than old hands. He also talks about “reverse mentoring,” which is quite the intriguing concept. My mind’s buzzing about how that could work in the nonprofit sector!

Awareness — and innovation too– depend on listening to the young and naive, to those who are not yet brainwashed and unable to see what is odd, wrong, and what might be done differently. As I argued in Weird Ideas That Work, if you are an expert, seek and listen to novices, as their fresh eyes can provide insights that you are unable to see. Or as Diego puts it over at Metacool, seeing old things in new ways, depends on finding ways to adopt “the beginners mind” or “the mind of a child.” In some organization’s I have worked with, senior executives accomplish this with “reverse mentoring” programs, where they are assigned to listen to and be coached by newcomers. This is an effective strategy if the veterans actually make it safe for the rookies to speak their minds.

Image credit: Warrington Borough Council

Filed Under: Leadership · Tagged With: Leadership, Now Generation Leadership, weekend reading

Leadership is a Verb, Not a Noun

April 9, 2010 by rosettathurman · Leave a Comment

All this week, Americans for the Arts and the Emerging Leaders Council have been hosting a blog salon to spark national dialogue on New Strategies to Support Next Generation Leadership on their ARTSblog. The blog salon seeks to leverage the voices of funders, Emerging Leader Network representatives, and leadership development advocates to discuss what is needed to sustain leadership growth, the skill sets that emerging leaders need to develop, and how funders are addressing the generational shift.

Today, I wrote a guest blog post as part of the salon.

Leadership is a Verb, Not a Noun

I’ve been writing about leadership and young nonprofit professionals for the past three years, and what I’ve finally come to is this: one of our biggest misconceptions about leadership is that it has something to do with a title.

The nonprofit sector often operates as if leadership were a noun. They look to “the leadership” to provide the answers, and blame “the leadership” when ideas fail or solution don’t come fast enough. I’ve heard many a young professional talk about leaving their organization because of disappointment in “the leadership.” The problem with this sentiment is that it assumes that leadership is a position at the top of the org chart and that it’s the responsibility of one person (or a select few) to lead the agency to success.

That’s why we use the term “emerging leaders.” Because we think that until you’ve reached the CEO position or ascend to a senior management role or reach the ripe age of 50, you have not yet “emerged.”

But what if we thought of leadership as a verb?

Read the rest of my post and add your comments here »

Be sure to check out the other bloggers who posted their thoughts this week on the ARTSblog!

Filed Under: Arts, Leadership · Tagged With: Americans for the Arts, artsblog, emerging leaders, emerging nonprofit leaders, Now Generation Leaders, Now Generation Leadership

The Normative Problem with the Term ‘Next Generation’ Leaders

March 5, 2010 by rosettathurman · 22 Comments

Earlier this year, I profiled four “now generation” leaders to watch because they are, and will be, doing amazing things for social change in the next year. But the main reason I wanted to coin the term ‘now generation’ is because I think the ‘next generation’ moniker gives young people (and everyone else) the sense that we have to wait for some undetermined time before we can lead. We have to wait until someone hands us the baton. We have to sit on the sidelines until someone passes us the ball. And until then, we’ve got to sit quietly with the other kids and try to catch the crumbs of wisdom and power that fall from the big kid’s table. We’ve got to wait until we get “next.”

If that’s what we mean by ‘next generation’ leaders, I sure don’t want to be one. To be clear, I don’t see anything wrong with the term in and of itself, but rather how it may be being used to reinforce the current distribution of power in the nonprofit sector.

The Normative Problem

In some ways, I see the term ‘next generation’ being used to further the normative problem we have in nonprofits. Harvard professor and scholar Ron Heifetz talks about how “normative issues” in leadership can make it difficult for new leaders to emerge. Basically, the term ‘normative’ means relating to an ideal model or standard for something, i.e. the “norm.” Heifetz says that we have a normative problem when a community believes collectively that leaders have certain characteristics like age, experience, pedigree, etc. And when a community believes that leaders come packaged in a particular way, they are more likely to wait for those types of leaders to come, instead of allowing different kinds of leaders to emerge. By saying ‘next generation’ leaders, I think we may be implying that young people are up “next” when we reach a certain age or level of experience, which is, in effect “the norm” for current leadership.

‘Next Generation’ Leaders are Not That Young

Most characterizations of the ‘next generation’ assume that these leaders are much younger than current leaders. Hence, the waiting “until we get old enough” connotation. But the reality is that young nonprofit leaders who are typically referenced as the ‘next generation’ are not as young as people think. We’re not all college kids anymore. This year, the oldest of Generation Y will be 30 years old. We’re no longer the “baby” in the workplace, we’re managers and directors and CEOs of great organizations. In short, the young professionals I’ve been talking about on this blog for three years have quickly become the ‘now generation.’ But I’m not sure the term ‘next generation’ takes that into account.

Who Decides When ‘Next Generation’ Leaders Become ‘Now Generation’ Leaders?

Having a cadre of bright young leaders in the nonprofit sector is great, but typecasting us as the ‘next generation’can also indicate that we need someone from up on high to deem us “ready” to lead when our time comes. Using the term can make it seem as if young people will lead after all the Baby Boomers are gone, however we all know that’s not gonna happen anytime soon. Baby Boomers are staying in their jobs longer as a result of the economic downturn, and many are taking on “encore careers” as nonprofit leaders. So it’s up to us, the young nonprofit leaders, to redefine who gets to say when we’re ready to lead. It can’t be our bosses, our mentors, or some older and wiser colleague. It is we who must decide for ourselves whether and when we will lead. I’ve heard too many stories of young people who come into the nonprofit sector, do their jobs well, and wait to be promoted or included or at the very least, heard. What I’ve realized in hearing these stories is that if young people wait for approval from their organizations to lead, if we wait for someone to deem us worthy of leadership opportunities, it will never happen. We have to make our own opportunities. Malcolm X once said (my brackets), “Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man [or woman], you take it.” I want to see us take it.

So the new question I think we need to ask ourselves is not what we will do as ‘next generation’ nonprofit leaders, but what we are already doing to lead right now today. How do you answer that question for yourself? Do you consider yourself to be a ‘next generation’ leader?