Make Time for Serious Leisure
In case you aren’t aware, all leisure is not the same, nor is it only what most think it is. As Merriam-Webster so nicely puts it, “freedom provided by the cessation of activities.” In 1973, Robert Stebbins began his work that would eventually lead to a three-part typology of leisure: “casual leisure,” “project-based leisure” and “serious pursuits.” Serious pursuits is, itself, divided into subcategories: “devotee work” and “serious leisure.” It is serious leisure that just may make you a better leader.
According to Stebbins, serious leisure is Read more
Science of the Nonprofit Starvation Cycle
While many nonprofits are used to working with scarcity—in fact, I often think too many nonprofits are so rooted in their framework of scarcity—not enough dollars, people, time, energy, etc.—that they can’t even dream in a framework of prosperity.
A professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton and an economist from Harvard—have affirmed what they call the scarcity mindset. They have shown that a brain focused on what a person is lacking becomes obsessed with that missing thing to the exclusion of all else and, as Read more
Mastering Nonprofit History
As someone who believes in the learning power of history, I am increasingly dismayed by how little others value history. While modern-day board members seem to have struggled for decades to grasp just what they are supposed to do and how they should do it, those who populated the earliest boards in America—the boards of educational institutions—figured it out long ago. All we have to do is follow.
I require students in my masters level governance class to read about the history of governing boards in Read more
