Like many new nonprofit managers, I had to go with my gut. As a new 20-something manager whose instincts weren’t fully developed and who didn’t have many examples of good managers, I didn’t have the greatest success. Fortunately, I’ve grown a lot in my 25+ year career in nonprofit leadership.

A topic that has been coming up a lot lately in my conversations is one that is prominent throughout the book the E-Myth, by Michael E. Gerber. It’s the concept of the tension and difficulty found between spending your time working “on” versus “in” your organization. While the E-Myth is focused on the “Entrepreneurial Myth”, I think it’s important to recognize that it also has implications for nonprofits.

I didn’t know if my personal experience and perspective was something that anyone wanted or cared to hear. But I knew in my heart, I wanted – maybe even needed – to share my story with you.

If we want to get different results than we are getting today, we have to change our habits, and in order to change our habits, we have to change our actions. In order to change our actions, we need new and different thinking, and in order to start thinking differently, we need to gather new information.