There's a mistake that every Nonprofit leader makes from time to time. In fact, we all make this mistake, not just in our work, but in multiple aspects of our lives. And if we can be attentive enough and fix it, we can absolutely transform our results and massively reduce our level of frustration.

Here's what I'm talking about. It's the curse of the expert. We know way too much about every aspect of the work that we do and the impact it has. And we correctly recognize that all those details are important. They all contribute to the overall success of the work that we do.

Unfortunately, that makes us really bad at paring that way down and zeroing in on the one or two details or messaging points that the decisionmaker we're talking to needs to know right now. Not in the end, not when we're all done, but right now.

We want to tell them all the details 'cause we know how important they all are. But when we do that, all we do is flood their brain with way too much information and they can't process any of it and they don't retain any of it.

So what do we do about this? How do you not only refrain from TMI, but how do you identify precisely what are the two or three things this decisionmaker needs to know right now, depending on where they are in their journey. Where do you, as their guide, need to take them next?

In this episode, we share:

• What I learned from teaching jujitsu that will help you build messaging that causes decisionmakers to “get it”
• The three-piece message scaffolding that is key to moving decisionmakers to invest fully in your work
• How to construct a high-level, impact-focused summary of your work in three sentences or less
• Why white papers and infographics often fail to improve decisionmakers’ understanding
• How to structure your messaging to cause decisionmakers to ask for the exact details they need
• The one thing you must train yourself to do when talking with decisionmakers

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One of my New Year's resolutions for 2026 is to make more mistakes. And I gotta tell you, it's been very interesting to see the reaction it gets when I tell people that.

A few people get it and cheer me on. But a lot of folks look at me kind of funny and ask, why on earth would you wanna do that?

That got me thinking about how much energy people put into trying to avoid mistakes and what that can wind up costing us. It also got me thinking about how this applies inside Nonprofit organizations. How important it is for Nonprofit leaders to have the freedom and space and support to make smart mistakes.

Action brings clarity. If we wait to take action until we have everything figured out, we're missing opportunity. And we're also very likely missing the chance to do something really brilliant.

In this episode, we share:

• How smart mistakes lead to the biggest breakthroughs
• What mistake-aversion could be costing you
• Three key principles to guide you in making valuable mistakes
• The four biggest obstacles to making the kind of mistakes that lead to big breakthroughs
• How to build a culture that supports and rewards making smart mistakes
• Two key questions to get you and your team started

Ready to take your messaging and engagement skills to the next level and start getting next-level results? The wait list for my new coaching program is now open. Only 10 Founding Member spots will be available. Claim yours by sending me a message here:

On the podcast website

On LinkedIn

As Nonprofit leaders, we all have a relationship with power. But it's not something that we tend to take a look at much. And I think perhaps the reason for that is what a lot of Nonprofit leaders tell me – that they're not super comfortable with the concept of power.

Today I want to really dig into some questions that will help us all understand our relationship with power a little bit better, and perhaps begin to shift that relationship a little bit.

The thing is, our relationship with power is often pretty complex. What we don't always consider is that we're also walking around with a whole set of beliefs about power that shape that relationship.

Our beliefs about power in particular have been shaped over a lifetime of experience. But they’ve also been informed by things we heard growing up. And by the environment we're operating in now.

If we're operating in an environment with a lot of other Nonprofit leaders, and that's our primary thought ecosystem, what happens a lot is that we start reinforcing one another's beliefs about power. And what I've noticed is that a lot of times those beliefs may not always be serving us very well. In fact, they may be holding us back from the things we most want.

In this episode, we share:

• How and why our beliefs about power affect our actions and decisions
• The most common beliefs about power held by many Nonprofit leaders
• A simple exercise to help you uncover your hidden beliefs about power
• The most powerful questions you can ask yourself to rewire your beliefs
• How to change your relationship with power to one that truly serves you

Ready to take your messaging and engagement skills to the next level and start getting next-level results? The wait list for my new coaching program is now open. Only 10 Founding Member spots will be available. Claim yours by sending me a message here:

Through the podcast website

On LinkedIn