What Nonprofit Leaders can Learn from a Brick

Photo credit: YMCA Wrightsville Beach Triathlon

We are honored to introduce you to this week's guest blogger Shaleiah Fox. A philanthropy enthusiast and strategist, Shaleiah has spent nearly 20 years strengthening mission-driven organizations through equity-focused leadership, relationship-centered fundraising, and a deep commitment to community. She also serves as an advisor with Armstrong McGuire.

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Not the kind of brick that is hardened clay and used to build things. I’m referring to the kind of brick that describes a time-tested workout technique. Stay with me.  

I recently completed my 5th triathlon. The experience was, as you might imagine, both hard and rewarding. If you are a nonprofit leader, those adjectives are as familiar to you as old pals. Our profession embodies those words - the days are often hard with profound moments of immense reward throughout. As I sat processing this fascinating parallel, a wondering wandered its way to me: if the end result of a triathlon mirrors that of the experience of a nonprofit leader, what else is there, there?  

Which brings me back to a brick. A brick is a training strategy that combines two workouts in one, most commonly a bike and a run. It is a highly effective way to get through a triathlon. It is also, as it turns out, a lens through which we can create a stronger nonprofit leadership mindset.

Brick Benefits & Messages

Triathlon benefit: Simulates race conditions

Nonprofit message: Prototype your success story  

As a young nonprofit founder, I made a common mistake. I built an organization to carry out a mission but stopped short of prototyping its vision. I knew what the program needed to be, the inputs, outputs, and the outcomes. I listened to the community with intensity and secured resources to operationalize the present. I did not simulate the conditions for long-term success. I did not anticipate the setbacks or plan for my own changing seasons and needs. Prototyping your organization’s success story is a regular practice of imagining your vision in action and playing out all that is required for that reality - strong board development, scenario planning, people building.  

Triathlon benefit: Improves transitions

Nonprofit message: Interim management as a plan

A fellow CEO search task force member shared with me that when they see “nonprofit consultant” on a resume, they question whether the candidate is experienced enough for the top position. As a former nonprofit executive leader who is currently consulting, I believe this current phenomenon warrants a different question: why are there so many nonprofit consultants in the first place? Michelle Flores Vryn shares thoughtful answers in a recent Nonprofit Quarterly article - but perhaps a bigger takeaway is for the nonprofits who will go through a leadership transition in the near future (according to Kittleman, nonprofit CEO departures are at an all-time high this year). Succession planning should account for this shift in the talent pipeline. Interim management is a transition solution that gives boards and staff time to assess what the organization needs in its next leader and simply and plainly, time. The gift of space to be strategic, thoughtful, and community driven.  

Triathlon benefit: Manages jelly legs  

Nonprofit message: Going deep with our donors is how we get to the other side

The most influential nonprofit leaders are relational at their core. Their relationship building muscles are conditioned, flexed, highly mobile, and can work through the jelliness that comes with intense use. These leaders intuitively know how to rest through expert pacing and patience with limitations. They are not too proud to supplement and fortify themselves through the help of others. This leadership profile will lead their teams through fatigue and on the path toward a strong finish. Because they understand an organization’s relationship with individual donors deserves a specialized strength training plan and stewardship, they’ll prioritize strategies that elevate this need and resource it. They know philanthropic priorities change for companies and foundations far more frequently than the values that drive individual connections to missions.  

What makes any triumph rewarding is the sheer act of accomplishing something bold or beyond your perceived limit. For me, that wasn’t entirely the case this time around. For triathlon #5, the reward came from crossing the finish line with my son, Miles, and three other family members that day. When we achieve in community, as nonprofit leaders - and as humans - that is indeed the truest reward of all.