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Does culture really eat strategy for breakfast? Peter Drucker's famous quote underscores a fundamental truth: even the most brilliant strategic plans will falter if the organizational culture doesn't support them. But “culture” and “strategy” are not mutually exclusive. In fact, we need to be strategic about culture too.

“To build a strong team, you must see someone else’s strength as a complement to your weakness and not a threat to your position or authority.” – Christine Caine, Australian best-selling author

Have you ever heard someone express something like:

YMCA Emergency Assistance Fund and DBD Group Team Up to Provide Support to YMCA Staff and Retirees in Their Time of Need

On April 8, 2022, at the national NAYDO Conference, the YMCA Emergency Assistance Fund (EAF) and DBD Group announced their partnership to strengthen the EAF’s fundraising efforts to continue to meet the need for crisis assistance. EAF provides financial support to Y professionals and retirees in their hour of need. This is especially significant because the EAF board has recently decided to remove YPN (YMCA Professional Network) membership as an eligibility requirement for an EAF award.

“The smartest people know what they don’t know.”

I had that drilled into me some three decades ago by a mentor. He practiced this every day, listening carefully to others’ views, thoughts and opinions. He surrounded himself with people who “are smarter than me…at least in one area.”

Are you a to-do list person? Maybe you subscribe to the GTD method or prefer old-fashioned pen and paper lists. Whatever the case, you’ve probably come to realize that getting a group of people (fundraising volunteers, for example) rallied around a to-do list is a much trickier exercise than tackling your own list of projects.

“My board members don’t know each other.”