How to ruin your non-profit in five easy steps
On communication, talent promotion, and big goals
How to ruin your non-profit organization in five easy steps:
■ 1. Don't insult your people by sharing best practices. Best practices are for suckers. Truly talented people are naturally good at everything, including things they've never seen before. It's rude to tell them ways to save time and frustration.
■ 2. Avoid doing anything you've seen anyone try elsewhere. All good ideas are your own original thoughts. If it wasn't yours first, don't bother attempting it. Ignore what peers and admirable leaders have tried.
■ 3. Under-communicate. Begrudge the process of explaining your ideas, do it as infrequently and irregularly as possible, and treat all messages as having the same level of importance. Never differentiate! There's no such thing as a "most important" thing: Your message channels should be one big Facebook-style feed of equal value.
■ 4. Avoid identifying talent. Make people fight their way to the top: Status-seeking and unchecked ambition should be rewarded.
■ 5. Have no transcendent goals. If you must have goals, keep them small and self-serving. Goals should be reserved for tedious metrics that you can use to hound volunteers. Anything bigger is just a hassle.