Leadership Story Lab Certified Storytelling Facilitators Rissa Reddan and Donna Bauman have both seen striking results in their work contexts when they have taken the risk of asking business storytelling questions that make people reflect. They’ve seen how the conversations that result from these questions can do three things: Improve wellbeing during the pandemic Reveal people’s…

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Don’t donate your professional clothes to the thrift shop just yet. Despite the advantages of saving money on office space, cutting employees’ commute times, and potentially creating a happier workforce, a recent survey shows that most CEOs of major global companies plan to call remote workers back to the office once it’s safe to do so. The survey…

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U.S. nonprofits have long struggled for funding, even before the pandemic. In 2019, the National Council of Nonprofits reported that roughly 50% of U.S. nonprofits “have less than one month of cash reserves.” This means crucial services hang in the balance for the vast numbers of people that America’s 1.3 million charitable nonprofit organizations support. Here’s a quick snapshot of…

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The flip side of knowing your donor’s stories is being able to tell your own story. I know. This is a total fundraising taboo in nonprofit circles. Nonprofits are all about the cause and the clients’ stories, not the employees’ individual stories. This is particularly true for employees whose backgrounds are dissimilar from the clients…

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“What kind of terrible world have we entered?” This is how Lisa Greer, a panelist in the ”Inside Out” webinar Leadership Story Lab recently co-hosted with ALUMinate, ended her poignant, personal story about realizing how differently her family was being treated solely because of their wealth. It’s a feeling many first generation wealth creators experience…

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For six years, I taught in a major gifts strategy program at Kellogg School of Management while being a major gift donor myself. One thing puzzled me greatly. Fundraisers mostly learn from other fundraisers who are very rarely major gifts donors themselves. How do they know if their messaging actually resonates and their fundraising strategy actually works?…

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Before Covid hit, my family often traveled to Germany. There, we found “Asian” restaurants in many small German towns. I had to chuckle at the generalization. Did these restaurants serve East Asian food? South Asian? Chinese? Indian? Thai? I considered, too, how even the flavors, textures and colors of what gets called “Chinese food” vary…

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Win major gifts for your college or university

Have you ever been surprised by news so positive, you had to pinch yourself to make sure you weren’t dreaming? Quite a few colleges and universities were in this position recently when they started receiving $10, $20 and $50 million dollar donations, all from a mystery donor. Finally, this past Tuesday, the stealth donor was revealed.…

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During a Q&A session in a seminar I taught at the prestigious Swiss Finance Institute, I had an embarrassing moment. The talk had been going well. In fact, when I asked my audience to exchange their answers to my “interactive questions” with someone sitting next to them, they filled the whole room with engaging discussions.…

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