RESET YOUR ATTITUDE: ARE YOU THE ONE HOLDING THINGS UP?

Nonprofit leaders are known for wearing many hats—budget balancer, community builder, last-minute-slide-deck-finisher, professional schlepper—but the hat we too often leave on the shelf is the one labeled “curiosity captain”. Whether it's embracing AI, reimagining donor stewardship, or treating events as more than just logistical nightmares lifts with a side of lukewarm veggie trays and sweaty cheese cubes, we sometimes meet new ideas with hesitation or quiet resistance.

It’s time for a reset—not of our strategy, but of our attitude. Because—gulp—we might just be the problem. And that’s uncomfortable… but also incredibly fixable. What if we chose curiosity over fear, and open-minded exploration over the comfort of our preconceived notions? These shifts aren’t detours from our mission—they’re invitations to deepen and expand it. And spoiler: we don’t need to have all the answers to get started. We just need to be willing to ask better questions and create space for curiosity.

Comfort Zones are Cozy, But They Don’t Change the World

There’s a fine line between being a good steward and becoming a reluctant gatekeeper. We guard our processes and thought patterns like they’re museum artifacts—and hey, who can blame us? Many of us have spent years MacGyver-ing our way through tight budgets and tighter timelines. Scarcity mindset is often earned the hard way.

But if we’re honest, “the way we’ve always done it” can be a comfort blanket we don’t want to let go of—even when it’s full of holes. Playing it too safe might keep the lights on, but it won’t spark anything new. It might preserve the status quo, but it rarely propels the mission forward.

Curiosity Isn’t Optional (Sorry About That)

Curiosity isn’t just for summer interns and TED Talk fans. It’s a leadership muscle we must keep stretching. It’s what helps us notice opportunities we’d otherwise miss, listen better, and shift from reacting to responding.

It means pausing before the reflexive “we can’t” and asking, what if we could? It means being more interested in potential than perfection.

And here’s where I’ll get personal: I don’t always live in the world of curiosity comfortably. According to the Working Genius model, my working geniuses are Discernment and Enablement. That means I’m naturally gifted at recognizing what ideas have potential and helping others move those ideas forward. But I’m not wired for constant Wonder and Invention—those are actually my working frustrations. I can get drained when everything is still nebulous or needs to be created from scratch. Let’s get going already—preferably with a color-coded checklist and someone else holding the brainstorming Sharpie.

But here’s the thing: leadership doesn’t mean we get to sit only in our sweet spot. It means stretching toward what’s needed. I’ve learned that I don’t have to be the idea generator—I just have to make space for ideas to emerge and create momentum around the good ones. That’s where curiosity shows up for me: not as constant ideation, but as intentional openness. And yes, I have to work at it!

Attitude Shifts = Mission Lifts

When we stop guarding the familiar and start welcoming the new, things get interesting. Let’s take a look at a few places where a little attitude shift could open big doors.

• AI isn't a threat to human connection. (Hear me out!) When used well, it's a tool that gives us more time for meaningful connection—with donors, members, and those we are serving. It can help us personalize communication, analyze data, and yes, even write that newsletter we’ve been avoiding. If you shifted your attitude toward AI (or some other piece of technology) you’ve been reluctant to embrace, what doors could you open?
  
  
• Donor stewardship isn’t “extra.” It’s not the dessert after the ask—it’s the main course. Following up, saying thank you well, and telling people how their gifts mattered is where relationships grow. It’s also where loyalty is built. If you’re glazing over this crucial piece of work and rushing to the next ask, you’ll never broaden and deepen your supporters the way you want. (AKA, your mission impact will keep limping instead of leaping.)
  
  
• Events aren’t evil. I can see your eye roll from here. Believe me, it took me a while to come around on this one too, but again, hear me out. Events can be culture-shaping, story-telling, mission-living opportunities and they do have their purpose. If we stop viewing them as something to “get through,” we might start using them as powerful moments of invitation, connection, and belonging.

Resetting your attitude doesn’t mean jumping on every shiny trend or saying yes to every single idea. It means making a conscious shift to see these elements not as burdens, but as bridges. Asking, “what if we could…” every time a tension point pops up can help you reframe that bike-a-thon event idea into a space to collaborate with partners all while raising interest in your mission and serving more people.

A Quick Reset Checklist (Because you love a list. Admit it.)

Feeling the itch to reset but also kind of overwhelmed by how? Totally normal. Resetting doesn’t have to be dramatic. Sometimes, it’s just a few small shifts in the right direction. If you’re ready to reset your mindset but need a jumping off point, start here:

• Ask “what if?” before saying “we can’t.” Pause your inner skeptic and give ideas a little oxygen.
• Choose one process to question this month. Maybe it’s your donor thank-you flow. Or how you evaluate events. Or the Tuesday meeting that could’ve been an email. (So many meetings, so little time.)
• Invite a new voice to the table. Someone outside your usual circle. Better yet—someone who disagrees with you nicely.
• Say yes to one new idea this quarter. Even if it’s just a pilot. Even if you’re not sure it’ll work. Try, learn, and adjust.
• Celebrate when curiosity leads to progress. Normalize experimentation—and name wins (especially the small, scrappy ones).

Resetting is a Team Sport

We talk a lot in nonprofit work about being “lifelong learners”—but that doesn’t just mean signing up for webinars. It means noticing when we’ve become too comfortable. It means catching ourselves when we say “that’ll never work here,” and replacing it with “what would it take to make it work here?” And yes, sometimes it means saying goodbye to that spreadsheet you’ve been using since 2009.

Resetting your attitude is like resetting your phone—it helps you get rid of outdated programs running in the background. It frees up mental space and gets things moving again.

And here’s the best part: you don’t have to do it alone. Resets are better—and a lot more fun—when they’re shared. Invite your team into the process. Talk about what’s feeling stale, what’s no longer serving your mission, or what wild idea has been sitting in someone’s head collecting dust. Make curiosity contagious by modeling it yourself. Ask, “what’s something we’ve been overlooking because it feels too big, too weird, or too new?” and then—this is the hard part—actually listen. You don’t need a whiteboard full of genius ideas to get started. Sometimes all it takes is giving permission to rethink, reset, and reimagine what’s possible—together.

Choosing Curiosity

In this work—this beautiful, exhausting, purpose-filled work—it’s easy to see change as a disruption. But more often, the real disruption comes from refusing to evolve. Clinging to what’s comfortable might feel safe in the moment, but it rarely moves the mission forward.

Resetting your attitude isn’t about becoming someone else. It’s about becoming a version of yourself that leads with curiosity, invites fresh thinking, and doesn’t panic when the playbook needs rewriting—or, you know, combusts entirely.

The good news? You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to be willing to ask a better question, try something different, and keep showing up.

So, let’s do it—curious, adaptable, slightly uncomfortable, and just brave (or over-caffeinated?) enough to try something new anyway.

Learn more about the 6 types of Working Geniuses here: https://www.dbd.group/working-genius

Summer is the perfect time to step back, evaluate, and realign priorities. It is a perfect time to think through a purposeful reset of your fundraising and organizational strategies. Tips from the team at DBD Group will help you emerge energized and focused for the busy season ahead.