What Attraction is REALLY About

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Deirdre Maloney

Recently I learned another – humbling – leadership lesson. It taught me a thing or two about what really attracts people…to us as individuals and leaders, and to our organizations. I begin with a spoiler alert: Despite what we hear every day, attraction isn’t about our perfect outfit, our fancy new car or our carefully styled new hair-do. Attraction - true...

How to Have a Terrible Day

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Deirdre Maloney

Last week found me at the Louisville airport. I’d just finished up a presentation and was heading home. I sat quietly at the gate and began to organize my bag before boarding….which is when I opened my wallet, looked down, and panicked. It was just like in the movies, when a character realizes something has gone terribly amiss. The reason for my...

What People Really Want From You

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Deirdre Maloney

Just when I thought I couldn’t learn any more humility after my recent shenanigans (see my last post for just one example), another humbling lesson came my way this week. I was asked to give a few opening keynote remarks at an evening conference. The coordinator wasn’t looking for some long, sweeping speech. Instead, a few words of inspiration would do. Th...

9 Steps to Hiring an Executive Director…Right

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Deirdre Maloney

It cannot be denied that the executive director is the most critical role for any nonprofit. While every staff and board member is important, it is this key leader who ultimately oversees the day-to-day, inspires and guides the team, and represents the organization to the outside world. For these reasons, hiring an executive director is the most important t...

My Unfortunate, Epic, Completely Avoidable Meltdown

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Deirdre Maloney

Today I invite you on a journey, one that will eventually lead to one of my most dramatic confrontations in recent history. In fact, it’s been just about a year since I brought you the tale of my last such incident in my blog post lessons learned from a major meltdown Today’s has a different flavor. I'll warn you now, it's not pretty. Though to be fair so...

The Gift You Don’t Know You Have

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Deirdre Maloney

A few months ago a woman called from Arizona. She asked if I’d consider presenting at a conference she was putting together. In my mind the answer was clear. This was a great opportunity. They were going to pay my way, pay my fee, and give me the chance to test out a whole new crowd. In my mind it felt like a nice win. My mind, in fact, was ready to do one...