Episode Summary

Most nonprofit leaders can feel that the week has gotten away from them, but very few can prove it, which makes the conversation with a board sound like complaining rather than evidence. Cyril Jefferson, Mayor of High Point, North Carolina, spent years on the other side of that problem as a consultant, and his fix is a four-week time audit: log every task in a spreadsheet as you do it, add a row each time something new appears, and at the end of 160 hours read what the sheet says. One leader discovered she was spending 40 percent of her time on her actual job description. He pairs it with an accountability chart that routinely shows a CEO carrying 70 functions while the program director carries 20. Jefferson also traces his own path from a Communities In Schools student to a site coordinator to City Hall, and makes the case for why the nonprofit sector sits where neither business nor government can operate. Listeners will walk away with a way to turn the feeling of overload into data somebody can act on.

About Cyril

Cyril Jefferson is Mayor of High Point, North Carolina, elected in November 2023 and sworn in at 31, and he serves as Industry Practice Director at Stratagon, where he leads the agency's higher education practice. He came to that role when Stratagon acquired Change Often, the social innovation firm he founded to work on social and economic challenges. His path ran through Communities In Schools, first as a High Point student the local affiliate served and later as a site coordinator splitting his employment between the nonprofit and the school district, where a student who fell through the cracks became the reason he ran for office. He was elected to City Council in 2019, and he is currently the Democratic nominee for North Carolina's Sixth Congressional District. His wife is a nonprofit executive director, he is a self-described spreadsheet guy who loves a good SUMIF, and he once officiated the wedding of a former student.

Resources

• Thanks to our podcast partner, Inperium

• Cyril's LinkedIn | City of High Point

• Communities In Schools, the national dropout prevention network that served him as a student

• Stratagon

• Book recommendation: The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

• Conference for NC Nonprofits, October 20-21, 2026 in Concord. Use code PATH26 for discount, or PATHMEM for $100 off through October 19 if you're already a member!

• Follow Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, and please leave a review!

• Learn more about our leadership resources

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