209. Next Gen Nonprofit Leadership: Embracing Self Reflection - Jonathan McCoy, CFRE, Becky Endicott, CFRE and Kishshana Palmer

Next-Gen Leadership Series with Special Guest Kishshana Palmer, We Are For Good Podcast

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Overview

📢SPECIAL GUEST on Friday Convo! (Who is not only the foremost global expert on progressive nonprofit leadership but she also happens to be one of our favorite people - ever. Kishshana Palmer!)

We're concluding our Friday series discussing the next generation of nonprofit leaders, and what skills are needed to lead and thrive in this new pandemic world. This week we're talking about Embracing Self-Reflection. Self-reflection in leadership means carving out time to review yourself as a leader. Are you taking the time to think and review yourself as part of increasing your self-awareness? It's absolutely critical for building culture and an empathy-based leadership style (and brand!).

“For me care, self care and self respect have started to come together like magnets.”

— Kishshana Palmer, Speaker, Educator, Trainer, Coach and Recovering Fundraiser, and Founder of The Rooted Collaborative

Episode Transcript

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Episode Overview

The next generation of nonprofit leadership (2:20)
The Great Resignation and the opportunity for leaders today (4:00)
Self Reflection: knowing thyself and your skills (6:00)
How to be able to receive feedback (17:00)
Self care, self respect, and taking care of yourself (19:00)
Focusing on self reflection (25:00)
Creating pause and rest and reflect (30:00)
Connect with Kishshana’s podcast: Let’s Take This Offline (32:00)

Powerful quotes

“People are craving not necessarily like new per se, because you chase new and new is fleeting, but they're craving fresh.” -Kishshana

“I need people to be realistic about where they are in what season of their life.” -Kishshana

“But what happens if you start thinking about your talents, and those are things that come easy to you, you may pick them up, you may put them down, you may use them, you look at them look sideways. And if you want, if you work on those things, you can monetize them.” -Kishshana

“When I think about leadership, and I think about what's next, I think that it really requires us to understand, where have we been vibrating? Are you in your skills level? Are you in your talent level? Are you even touching your gifts? Do you even know what they are? Have you slowed down enough to know?” -Kishshana

“Because I was a fundraiser and a marketer, and using communications, getting to the heart of what drives people to do a thing was, for me, the hallmark of a good leader.” -Kishshana

“How do you govern in terms of your ability to do all of those things to be empathetic, to listen to lean in to see others to see how your response to thing affects others?” -Kishshana

“Understanding how to manage up is to me a key leadership tool, because everybody's always reporting to somebody.” -Kishshana

“So now, folks who are in physical leadership seats, CEOs, executive teams, etc, are literally being forced to confront many of the policies and practices that have kept folks on that conveyor belt for a really long time. And I think that that we're seeing that effect happen now.” -Kishshana

“You want to be living not just existing.” -Kishshana

“I think that we have mistaken self care for maintenance.” -Kishshana

“So the reality is that whatever it is, that feels like it is squeezing the juice out of your brain. You have to release the pressure. What do you need to do to release that pressure?” -Kishshana

“As a leader, regardless of your leadership seat, where are you twisting yourself into a pretzel for other people's temporary comfort?” -Kishshana

“When I think about the care aspect when I think about is when you do or don't do a thing are you respecting yourself? So for me care, self care, and self respect, have started to come together like magnets.” -Kishshana

“I do see that it points back to where's the respect of self that sleep matters, that how you're eating, how you're working out how you're showing up for yourself out of respect for your body and your soul, your mind like, it is all interconnected.” -Jon

“People hire a leadership coach to help them through their work. And you just hit the nail on the head and your approaches, it starts with you. There is absolutely no way that you can be this luminary leader, even if you care so deeply about your people, if you do not take care and love yourself.” -Becky

“I'm really, really, really freaking good at making sure that others see the power in themselves, and that they harness it and they action it.” -Kishshana

“So there are some folks who are sitting in their leadership roles or getting ready to step into their leadership roles, that you think you got to buckle up. It's about to be a ride. What if you decided that that was not gonna be your story? What would that look like for you?” -Kishshana

“I think that that reflective opportunity doesn't have to be heavy. But it does have to be thoughtful. You owe it to yourself.” -Kishshana

“I think this is a place that I want to end on, you know, personally and as a community of just like taking stock. Looking back and realizing this next year can be what the shape, we want it to take, you know, let's hold to the values that we really want to perpetuate in our life and our organizations.” -Jon

“I'm gonna teach folks about how to actually start the steps of leaning into understanding yourself.” -Kishshana

“I want us in this sector to stop feeling like the stepchildren of the work world.” -Kishshana

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