Optional vs Essential

Leadership and culture aren't optional. They're mission essentials.

Most of us don't leave organizations because of the work. We leave because of how it feels to show up.

There's a specific kind of dread that comes with leading in an organization whose mission you believe in, but whose culture makes it nearly impossible to do the work well. You feel it when you go to bed at night and before you open your laptop the next morning. The values are framed on the wall. The mission statement is probably in your email footer.

And still, too many of us know that something is fundamentally off. Y’all, this isn’t a morale problem. This all too common experience is evidence of our collective lack of investment in the people who run our teams and organizations.

And leadership problems don't stay quiet. They show up in your turnover cost (financial and intellectual), in your team's capacity, and eventually in your organization's ability to serve the communities at the center of its mission. Eventually, this all spills over into reputational damage. But why let it get to that point?

We (our social impact ecosystems) have treated leadership development as a nice-to-have for too long. Something to fund when budgets are comfortable and cut when they're not. Ummm….since when have we had an overabundance of cash? So let’s be for real! We have been doing the wrong math. Underdeveloped leadership doesn't disappear from the budget. Instead, it moves into harder-to-measure places. Culture. Engagement. Mission impact.

Leadership and culture aren't soft skills. They're mission essentials.

The people running our organizations and human-centered programs deserve the same quality of investment we ask them to give to the people they serve.

That's what the LEADD Lab is built to do. The September cohort is open - a 10-week program for a community of leaders in social impact roles. Visit https://www.jollyadvisory.co/leadd-lab to learn more and apply.

In partnership,

April