Trista Harris | Rosetta Thurman

Trista Harris is the Executive Director of the Headwaters Foundation for Justice and a prolific blogger at New Voices of Philanthropy.

From Trista’s blog:

Trista Harris is nationally known as a passionate advocate for new leaders in the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors. She is a leading voice for Generations X and Y and seeks to create professional development opportunities throughout the sector. Trista has been featured on CNN and her work has been covered by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the New York Times, Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal, Career Builder, and numerous social sector blogs. She writes about generational change in the foundation field in her blog, New Voices Of Philanthropy and is an international speaker on working across generations to create social change.

In her professional life, Trista is the Executive Director of the Headwaters Foundation for Justice. Headwaters is a community foundation with a mission to act as a catalyst for social, racial, economic and environmental justice. She oversees the Foundation’s grantmaking, communications, fund development and investment management activities.

Trista came to the Headwaters Foundation from the Saint Paul Foundation, where she was a program officer and provided leadership on the Foundation’s initiatives related to civic engagement and philanthropy, as well as managed both scholarship funds and a grantmaking portfolio that reflected the Foundation’s interest in comprehensive solutions to community issues. Prior to her work at the Saint Paul Foundation, Trista was the Advancement Director for Portico Healthnet, an innovative nonprofit that provides health coverage and education to uninsured Minnesotans.

A native Minnesotan, Trista received her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Howard University and her Master’s in Public Policy degree, with a focus on philanthropy and nonprofit effectiveness, from the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota.

Photo credit: Headwaters Foundation

Did you miss yesterday’s live broadcast of A Day in the Life of a Young Nonprofit Executive Director? You missed an amazing discussion, but have no fear. You can click on the link or listen below to the archived show.

On my radio show yesterday, we had an incredible discussion about leadership with four nonprofit executive directors under 40 (see their full bios here):

Trista Harris, Headwaters Foundation for Justice
John Mark Eberhardt, The Steward’s Staff
Bridget Clark Whitney, Kids Food Basket
Laura Zabel, Springboard for the Arts

In a special 90 minute episode, my guest shared insights about the paths they took to become an executive director, the responsibilities they have as the head of the organization, how they use social media in their leadership role, their strategies for managing staff, how they build relationships with funders, and their approach to work/life balance. They even talked about their salaries!

It was probably the most candid radio show I’ve had so far. What did listeners think?

Last year’s report, Ready to Lead? Next Generation Leaders Speak Out painted a grim picture of the future of nonprofit leadership and the barriers young people face in becoming executive directors. Yet Trista, John Mark, Bridget and Laura debunked all the myths and proved that young people CAN lead and we can do it OUR way. You can read my detailed notes on Twitter using #youngeds. But here are my main takeaways from the conversation. What were yours?

Young People Already Have the Skills to Lead

Both Trista and Laura said they found their ED jobs about 10 years before they thought they were ready. But they realized that they were ready much earlier than that, because they got the jobs! Trista said it was a stretch to move into that leadership role, but you realize you already know most of what you have to do. All of my guests had a ton of skills when they came into the job, and were able to leverage them along with their mentors (and “antimentors’) to help them in their ED job. One Twitter listener put it this way:

The Path to Leadership is Not Linear

Each of my guests took a wildly different path to becoming an ED. Bridget went from being an intern to ED because she was the one who helped the founder during the start of the organization. John Mark founded his nonprofit after many successful and financially lucrative roles in the corporate world. Trista went from being a fundraiser to a grantmaker to running an entire foundation. And Laura used both her passion and skills in the arts to parlay into her ED role. There is no one size fits all path to get to the top job, if that’s what you aspire to do. Taking the risk and putting yourself out there was the only common thread to success for my guests.

Young People Hate Hierarchy and Seek to Change the System

What was most interesting to me was that each of my guests have created a flat/collaborative/empowering management structure in their organizations. None of them are fond of micromanagement by their board or of micromanaging their staff. What that says to me is young people hate hierarchy and when given the opportunity to lead, they will change the system. All of my guests value and trust the wisdom of the team. Bridget tells a story of having staff who are all older than she is, so she uses email as little as possible. John Mark talks about the challenge of enforcing the vision when your staff are your peers. Yet none of my guests use their top-down prerogative to keep staff in check. Another interesting theme was that both Bridget and John Mark pay some of their staff more than they earn as an ED, either because their staff have more experience than they do or because they choose to sacrifice so their staff can be happy with their compensation.

Salary is Relative and Can Be Enhanced

None of my guests seemed thrilled with their salaries, but their happiness with their jobs outweighed any monetary benefits. None of them do this job for the money, but the passion for the work. Laura put it perfectly:

If you think the executive director job is too much work for too little pay, you’re right.

Guest agreed that everyone has a choice to make more money in other sectors, but if you want this job with more money, you have to use your leadership to change it. Bridget shared that her board agreed to pay for her Master’s degree – sweet! Guests also shared ways that they enhance their income – through consulting, speaking engagements, and Trista even started a drycleaning business and sells products like Do Good Guides through her blog.

Work/Life Balance is Up to You

All of my guests benefit from spending time with their spouse and family when times get tough on the job. John Mark prays with his wife every morning and maintains a weekly date night. Trista tries to combine work travel with family time, such as her recent speaking engagement in Puerto Rico that she turned into a family vacation.

These are just a few highlights from the conversation, so be sure to listen to the entire discussion here! And if you know Trista, John Mark, Bridget or Laura, please thank them for sharing their precious time with us!

P.S. There will be no show next week in celebration of Thanksgiving! Be sure to mark your calendars for Wednesday December 2, 12pm EST: What Should Racial Diversity Look Like in the Nonprofit Sector with three very special guests!