by Dani Scoville
For the past two years I’ve represented the editorial staff here at Jossey-Bass at nonprofit conferences (that’s me on the left) throughout the states. I’ve always enjoyed my time connecting with nonprofit professionals and learning more about the sector, but often I have felt in the minority age-wise amongst the attendees. At the end of October, I attended the Independent Sector Pre-conference Program titled “NGEN” for next generation nonprofit leaders. Networking with a professional community of my peers was a relief! It was great connecting with the next generation of nonprofit leaders, hearing about their experiences and looking forward to the future of the sector with these quality leaders at the helm. While I work for the private sector, I do volunteer with several nonprofits in San Francisco, so I was able to engage, enjoy and learn from the sessions I attended.
I particularly enjoyed the opening session of “Understand and Leverage Personal and Organizational Networks” presented by Maxim Sytch, Assistant Professor in the Department of Management and Organizations at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He discussed how to utilize and sustain authentic network connections through many practices. What I found most interesting (and easiest to begin practicing now!) is how we should offer substantive resources to the connections we make, besides just exchanging business cards. Especially as young professionals, eager to engage in our field, we can get caught up in the quantity over the quality of our connections. If we are able to make quality connections, the potential for long term sustainability of these connections greatly increases.
Another session that engaged next generation leaders was “Harness Your Personal Power” presented by Mike Goorhouse, chair of NGen Advisory Group and Director of Membership and Project Management systems at Council of Michigan Foundations and Trish Tchume, Director of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network. This session focused on realizing your personal identity and how it affects the power dynamics in your networks and in your profession. A piece of good advice that I took away was, “before you go out and create change in the world you have to know what you’re bringing to the table.”
The NGen Program concluded with a luncheon where top nonprofit leaders, aka NGen Ambassadors, each sat at a table with attendees and facilitated discussions around current and future trends and how the next generation of leaders can engage and affect the sector. All in all, it was an enjoyable pre-conference program with a supportive and welcoming community of professionals!
Our author Paul Schmitz (right) was at the conference promoting his recently released title Everyone Leads , which is the perfect book to pair with this posting on the next generation of nonprofit leaders. So my question to you, nonprofit community, is how can seasoned nonprofit leaders encourage the next generation leaders to step up and lead? For the NGen readers, how are you developing your leadership skills?
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Everyone Leads: Building Leadership from the Community Up
"If America is going to continue to thrive in the twenty-first century, we must strengthen our sense of community. In Everyone Leads, Schmitz lays out the challenges for those of us who have a passion to make a difference and, more important, the strategies to spark lasting change from the grassroots up. His unique perspective and experience make this a must-read for community activists."—Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO, Harlem Children's Zone Learn More
