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On February 24, 2009 Crecer Strategies and Milo Public Affairs hosted a conversation with experts in interactive technology, business development, management, funding and leadership to discuss new and creative strategies for helping nonprofits to survive and thrive in the new economic climate.
 In part, the event was inspired by the notion of a "eureka moment" and smoke jumper Wag Dodge's story.
Nearly overcome by the forest fire that was chasing him, “[Wag] Dodge stopped running. The decision wasn't as suicidal as it appeared: in a moment of desperate insight, he had devised an escape plan. He lit a match and ignited the ground in front of him, the flames quickly moving up the grassy slope. Then Dodge stepped into the shadow of his fire, so that he was surrounded by a buffer of burned land. He wet his handkerchief with water from his canteen, clutched the cloth to his mouth, and lay down on the smoldering embers. He closed his eyes and tried to inhale the thin layer of oxygen clinging to the ground. Then he waited for the fire to pass over him.
Thirteen smoke jumpers died in the Mann Gulch fire. White crosses below the ridge still mark the spots where the men died. But after several terrifying minutes Dodge emerged from the ashes, virtually unscathed…”
— Jonah Lehrer, “The Eureka Hunt,” The New Yorker, July 28, 2008
Moving Beyond Standard Management Practice
Standard management and leadership practice is to do what you do well, and keep doing that. When times get tough—the economy slumps, the political climate turns against us, we lose important staff—we are conditioned to focus even more, identify core competencies and work harder or be more efficient. Under normal circumstances this is good advice.
And, the advice that most people are giving to nonprofits sounds very similar: do more of the same—focus on the details, find (more) efficiencies, cut (more) costs, raise (more) money. Do (even) more with (even) less. Yet for many, this may not be enough.
Sometimes, the only answer is to do the completely unexpected. Wag Dodge and his team of smokejumpers were fleeing a fire; under normal conditions that might have been enough to save their lives. But on that August afternoon in Montana in 1949, running wasn’t going to work. In one “eureka moment” Dodge saved his life and changed the way wildfires are fought. Essentially, when his back was against the wall, he redesigned the room.
Our economy is in a state of crisis, and as a result so are many nonprofit and advocacy organizations. Now is not the time to continue to do the expected, the fire is simply moving too quickly. Now is the time to revision our work, to cultivate eureka moments, to discover new  insights and take advantage of them—to change the game.
Envisioning Alternative Approaches to the Crisis
In the weeks to come, we will share insights from Changing the Game. In the meantime, here are some alternative perspectives suggested by business and nonprofit thinkers.
Alternative Perspectives for Moving Forward in this Crisis
Announce and own a grand concept
Okay, you might not be able to raise money for it nor do much about it now, but you will be well prepared when markets recover. Ideas are cheap to begin to articulate and brand, and priceless once established.
In early November, as the financial crisis was still fresh in its horror (and Obama's election still fresh in its exuberance), Sam Palmisano announced "Smart Planet," a new IBM concept, via a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. The intention for now is to stimulate discussion and pin down the idea of intelligent networks for future infrastructure, or any of the other aspects of a smarter (more information-infused) capacity for roads, buildings, supply chains, etc.
— Rosabeth Moss Kanter, “Four Actions to Survive the Recession and Emerge Triumphant,”
Havard Business Publishing Blog, Friday January 9, 2009
Look while leaping
Action, tempered by reflection, is the critical component in recovering from cosmology episodes. Once you start to act, you can flesh out your interpretations and rework them. But it's the action itself that gets you moving again. That's why I advise leaders to leap in order to look, or leap while looking.
(A cosmology episode happens when people suddenly feel that the universe is no longer a rational, orderly system….in a cosmology episode, everything seems strange. A person feels like he has never been here before, has no idea of where he is, and has no idea who can help him. An inevitable state of panic ensues, and the individual becomes more and more anxious until he finds it almost impossible to make sense of what is happening to him.)
— Karl Weick, “Sense and Reliability,” Harvard Business Review Interview, 2003
Communicate openly and often
The only thing worse than sitting, helpless, on a train that has slowed its speed or come to a halt in mid-journey, is not knowing why, or how long it will last. Passengers get antsy, worried, and even panic-stricken. Good conductors are on the intercom every few minutes explaining the situation, its root cause and when travel is likely to get back to normal. People need to know that leadership has a handle on the problem and a plan to address it. They want to know where they stand, what the organization’s prospects are, how and if they change, and what they can do to help.
— The Bridgespan Group, “Managing in Tough Times: Seven Steps,” November 14, 2008 |
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