While a global pandemic may not have been the perspective any of us were seeking, living through it shined some welcome light on the issue of burnout, mental health, work-life balance and is helping to reframe thinking on how and where the job gets done.

I lived what I would call an "ignorance is bliss" life. Like most of us, I drove through communities seeing only what is on the surface--shopping malls, churches, schools, city halls and parks. No longer. I have lost my "bliss factor".

You don’t have to look hard to see what leadership looks like. Just watch the Minnesota Wild Hockey team since Bill Guerin took over as general manager and he named Dean Evason head coach.

Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity. In a nutshell, the VUCA age requires new approaches to age-old processes, growth and open mindsets, broader perspectives and thinking on your feet.

Upstream Thinking is the quest to solve problems before they happen. Imagine what an equitable world it could be if we shifted our approach from downstream to upstream.

The nonprofit sector’s scarcity mindset didn’t originate on its own. It is in part due to the approach of philanthropy organizations, funders, donors, and grant makers. After all, they are responsible for prioritizing and determining what is appropriate to fund, how long it will be funded, and what hoops nonprofits must go through to get funded.

The majority of interviews were clear, business shouldn't be a dirty word for nonprofits.

Many of the professionals and board members I interviewed said, "Healthy conflict cultures are essential to success." Yet healthy conflict cultures aren't possible when ego is at the forefront.