Welcome to our community-drive series focusing on how the for-purpose sector is adapting during the Covid-19 pandemic, from leaders around the globe.
Wherever you are in the world, it’s likely you’re dealing with the coronavirus and its impact on our work and communities. Maybe you’re grappling with how to empower your team and communities to act responsibly but with courage in the face of uncertainty? Maybe you’re working on ways to stay creative and resilient, and minimize colleagues’ stress? Do you cancel gatherings, shift to virtual meetings, pause on some projects?
COVID-19 is a wakeup call in many ways. The health impacts aside, many of us are dealing with disruption, uncertainty, bias, and a growing sense of vulnerability across communities. It’s clear that this pandemic will have lasting global implications. It is also evident that no matter how this complex and evolving situation resolves, it will not be the last of its kind. What’s less is clear is what we as leaders in the nonprofit sector can and should do today, tomorrow and beyond.
To that end, it feels more important than ever to activate a network of diverse voices to reflect and share insights and lessons. Individually, our mindset is powerful; we become what we consume. The same can be true of our collective.
This series is designed to spotlight people and solutions, grapple with questions and connect ideas across the globe. The series editors, Monica and Caitlin, will curate content but the ideas will come from leaders in arts, theater, environment, science, youth development, community strengthening, policy change—the many diverse industries in our network.
A note from Monica Kang (series co-editor):
For me, the American Express Leadership Academy global alumni community is one of the places that inspires me to be bolder. I became an Ashoka Changemakers Fellow in 2016. Since then, I’ve learned and met so many incredible global nonprofit and social impact leaders who show how nothing is impossible when determination, diligence and positivity is put together. I always learn and find strength from the #amexleads network, so I am inspired to reach out to you in moments like this. (More on the network.)
I’ve been feeling that so much of the media coverage has focused on politics, facts, and fear-mongering and less on humanizing tools for dealing with the impacts on our work.
That’s why Caitlin and I want to work with you to create a content series that identifies ways to creatively problem solve and stay resilient in the face of uncertainty. Our intention is to harness the power of storytelling to connect us and provide a human perspective and practical resources to reflect and learn together. Our content, published on LeaderStories at least once a week, will not focus on health guidance but instead bring global reflections and ideas for supporting people, communities and our work.
We hope that these stories will inspire you and others, and help us realize that there is more than one way to solve problems. We hope you’ll be inspired to participate, we want to hear from you!
Thank you for your positivity, courage, and resilience. We can’t wait to connect.
- Monica H. Kang, Founder of InnovatorsBox.
How to Participate
We are eager for insights from every region, community and focus. If you are interested in writing or recording a video or audio post, we welcome you to send us your idea and we’ll help you make it happen, or you’re your completed post to us. If you prefer, we can set up an interview with you to craft a post.
To start, please take a moment to fill out this form. It asks you for:
- Your contact information, industry, country, etc,
- Brief insight into how the virus has impacted you if it has
- Brief insight into what has helped you stay resilient, creative and positive
- Any additional questions, patterns you want to share
- And If you’d like to do a video interview and when you’d like to do that
Please note: We are not health or medical experts and this series is not intended to provide detailed health or medical guidance. In addition, because this is a rapidly evolving and sensitive topic, we respect your privacy; Please share only what you are comfortable with. Finally, it may be obvious, but we require good social network etiquette here: all insight contributors must keep posts positive in tone, avoid discriminatory or biased language, and focus on solutions and reflections. We reserve the right to edit and adapt as needed.
Check Out:
Compilation of Resources for Nonprofits (Google Sheet). Please share, edit, add!
Articles in this Series:
- Meet With Your Finance Committee Now (by Seth Cothrun)
- Leadership Lessons to Get Through: An Interview with Alison Wagner
- It’s Never too Late to Prioritize and Prepare: An Interview with Wesner Pierre
- Letting Go to Get Things Done: A Conversation with PressureValve Founder Julie Smith
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Key Intention: The coronavirus is impacting our work and our communities—the way we interact, the way we convene, the way we deliver our services and build our networks. As a global network of leaders of impact, what if we could aggregate some of the lessons learned, insights, suggestions with one another through a series focused on reflection and learning? Our series is not designed to offer science or health guidance, but instead to collect insights and share resources about the pandemic’s other impacts: on community, social capital and connections, on our leadership and in our workplaces. This series will be organic, positive and solution-driven. We believe that how our countries and societies navigate this challenging period matters, and has the potential to bring us closer together and help us better prepare for the future. We will collect and share diverse insights and experiences as an opportunity for all of us to learn, connect and explore new policies, team engagement, culture, and leadership practices emerge. We also hope that this can be an opportunity to challenge us all to be more courageous, creative and resilient, as we are all called upon to behave differently in this moment and beyond. All writing will be related to leadership, culture, team, communication. We will state clearly that these posts are not intended to offer health advice or updates on the virus status. |
