Mapping Out Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership

This week on the Nonprofit Jenni Show, we chat with Dr. Patton McDowell about how to map out your path to nonprofit leadership with clear goals and actionable steps. We also have another edition of the Nonprofit Tech Minute sponsored by knit.tech and then take a look back at Jenni’s eight book recommendations for nonprofit professionals in 2022.

How to Map Out Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership

Dr. Patton McDowell’s new book, Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, walks you through seven steps to set and achieve your nonprofit leadership goals. In episode #136 of the Nonprofit Jenni Show, we talk about each of these steps in detail. Here are a few key takeaways from our conversation: 

1. Apply strategic planning essentials to your career path. In his book, Patton lists ten essential skills every nonprofit leader needs to hone. He recommends looking at our career path similarly to the way we apply strategic planning essentials to our nonprofits to find the greatest opportunities to improve on these skills.

2. Don’t neglect your strengths. Patton stresses that while it’s important to practice new skills, you shouldn’t fail to keep developing your natural strengths. Find regular opportunities to flex those muscles! For example, if you’re already comfortable with public speaking, set a goal to find one public speaking opportunity each month or quarter through podcasts (like mine), your local social club, religious organizations, etc.

3. Create your own curriculum. If you’ve decided that you need to work on your communication skills, for example, seek out your own resources to sort of develop a study curriculum for yourself. Patton mentions you can look for seminars, webinars, books, podcast episodes, practice opportunities, and more to build this knowledge base.

Listen to my interview with Patton:

Jenni’s Favorite Resources for Nonprofits This Week

  • knit.tech — My favorite IT consultants, tech support, managed services, and other services come from my friends at knit.

  • My recommended books for nonprofit professionals — I put together this Amazon list of books i recommend for personal and professional growth.

  • All my favorite resources — Each week, I highlight a handful of resources in my email newsletter to you. But I have a longer list on my website complete with every tech tool, consultant, and resource I love for nonprofits!