Resource Library

March 23, 2010

Why “Raising Awareness” of Your Organization is Not a Strategic Goal

It is a common topic of discussion when I help an organization develop a strategic plan: how to raise awareness of the organization.  The assumption is that if only more people knew about them, then…well, what then? The reality is that not everyone needs to know about your organization and the work that it does.  However, it […]

More

March 15, 2010

What is Strategy?

The title of this entry is taken from an article of the same name, which appeared in the Harvard Business Review in 1996.  The article was written by Michael Porter (“we’re not worthy”) and is viewed as a classic in business circles.  I have returned to this article on numerous occasions and always come away […]

More

March 11, 2010

Why Nonprofit Strategic Planning Usually Fails

One of the great ironies surrounding my work as a nonprofit consultant is that I was one of those who had little use for strategic planning.  In fact, I hated it.  Like many of you, I sat through too many sessions where we were asked (forced?) to brainstorm about the future of our organization, then […]

More