501 Focused

“I haven't any courage at all. I even scare myself.” - The Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz This post is all about Courage. In my last post, I said we’d talk more about Getting Focused, and I believe courage is a big part of that -- especially when it comes to strategic planning. Wikipedia’s definition of courage is “the ability to confront fear, pain, risk/danger, uncertainty, or intimidation.” Those of us who work in the nonprofit arena see a lot of examples of courage -- from the individuals with the courage to leave abusive situations and seek help from a shelter to those who travel long distances to render aid when disasters strike. Strategic planning also takes a bit of courage, maybe not on that scale, but courage nonetheless. For a group to take on strategic planning, it must be willing to look outside the norms of operation, to confront failures (and possibly risk new ones), to let go of successes if they take the organization off course from its mission, and to fo...