Brad Rourke

Category: management

  • Nonprofit Challenges: Waste

    This is the last of my three-part video series on challenges and pitfalls facing nonprofits and other mission-driven organizations. This segment focuses on the problem of waste: As an independent consultant with no real apparatus to speak of (which is by design), it’s easy to spot expenditures in organizations that simply don’t need to be…

  • Nonprofit Challenges: Wanting To Live Forever

    I am in the middle of a three-part video series on challenges and pitfalls that nonprofit organizations face. This second challenge is (like all these pitfalls), not unique to nonprofits, but it does afflict many. That is the tendency to begin to confuse the health of the organization with the effective pursuit of the mission.…

  • Nonprofit Challenges: Too Inward

    I am doing a three-part video series on challenges and pitfalls that face nonprofits and other mission-driven organizations. The first pitfall is “inwardness,” as I discuss here: This is not a new idea. Indeed, one of the drivers of the whole strategic planning movement of the late 1960’s was the notion that businesses needed to…

  • Choosing Between The Inbox And The Stream

    Like it or not, the stream has entered the workplace. While this may fill some with anxiety, and others with derision, on balance it is a good thing. Since its use exploded in the late 1990’s, the email Inbox had dominated and controlled most professional people’s lives. It is a never-ending to-do list, created by…

  • Giving A Presentation

    This morning I am in historic Williamsburg, Virginia giving a talk to the opening session of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership’s Political Leaders Program. We’re in the Wren Building, which dates to the 1600’s. I feel a little bit in awe. I also want to do a good job. This is the kickoff of…

  • Orgs: Back Up Your Twitter Strategy

    Some of my friends and colleagues in a number of organizations have continued to ask me about using social media, and specifically Twitter, in real ways that actually help the organization fulfill its mission. As I said in a recent post, executives don’t need fancy, shiny tools that are neat — they need things that…

  • Finding Talent

    Yesterday I wrote about the idea of using a portfolio instead of a resume when jobsearching. That got me to thinking. If I were hiring, how would I approach hiring differently than the norm? The answer: I would not wait for people to apply. I would continually be on the lookout for talent. There are…

  • Portfolios, Not Resumes

    I am not sure why, but I have been thinking a lot about jobs and job searching these days. Maybe it has something to do with the economy. In any event, as a thought experiment, I began toying with an updated resume. What would I include? How would I change my existing one? I quickly…

  • What's Your Rhythm?

    I recently had an exchange with a friend during which I recalled that at different periods, his energy level on certain issues seemed to go up and down. That got me to thinking about my own energy and attention levels. I have long been aware that my effectiveness and energy follow a pretty strong sine…