Every time I hear “but we didn’t learn anything new” on one of these projects, it’s like I am hearing it for the first time – I’m just so shocked and surprised. Then I must remember that I’ve probably said it too. So, if we aren’t learning anything new, why are we continuing to do this type of work in communities?

My word for 2023 is INTENTIONAL. I’ve struggled with putting the rationale for this choice into words, so if you’re still reading, know that this post isn’t about trying to diminish your goal-setting on day two of a new year.

1000 Feathers, LLC, has recently added Melissa Weathers to their team as Director of Operations and Marketing.

I have been part of many community and organizational partnerships, where at some point, the suggestion comes up that a “review of the literature” could be helpful to inform the work that we are doing.

At the beginning of a new year, there are always plenty of lists to go around – resolutions, commitments, maybe you’re even setting some stretch goals. Whatever you choose to call them, too often, they don’t stick. So, why am I writing out yet another new list for you to consider? Because it comes with a different frame of reference.

Black Friday. Cyber Monday. We are very familiar with two days as retailers and marketers have successfully embedded them in our minds for years. But while the Amazons and Targets of the world want us to focus on the consumerism of the season, let’s not leave the most important date off the list…

Another area that has been unprecedented is relationship building in the time of a global pandemic. And since it’s 2021, this should be an easy one, right? We have social media, Facetime, Zoom, email, text messaging, and conference calls. We should be able to maintain and build relationships easily…right? If only it were that easy.

I always knew it could happen. Military families move, on average, every three years. I was lucky that my spouse had been stationed at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, SC, for over a decade and that I had experienced a meaningful and purpose-filled career. Military spouses often struggle with employment, given frequent moves across state and country lines and their role in taking care of their family.

In a recent episode of The Jinks Perspective, host Patrick Jinks chats with our co-founder Heather M. Brandt, Ph.D. about her roles as the director of the HPV Cancer Prevention Program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and co-associate director for outreach in the St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center.

As you might suspect, we’re spending a lot of time with organizations working on building a positive workplace culture as they begin to plan for a post-pandemic future. The organizations in our current portfolio differ in size, location, and focus area, but a number of common themes have emerged during these conversations. It all made me reflect a bit about what I would be doing right now if I were still overseeing a large team of people.

1000 Feathers is excited to announce and welcome Melissa Strompolis and Alene Willingham to our team. Melissa will serve as the firm’s Director of Research while Alene is joining the team as an Administrative Assistant.

On this week’s episode of The Jinks Perspective, our friend and colleague Patrick Jinks interviews our President Forrest Alton.

As you know, we are in a time unlike any other. To make some sense of the chaos, we have co-authored a blog for nonprofit leaders on Leading Through Crisis. Head over to the Together SC website to read the full article or click on the this blog post to download a PDF.

A colleague recently directed Forrest to a passage in Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great. Summarized here, the passage describes The Stockdale Paradox, which is named after Admiral Jim Stockdale and suggests a necessary balance between “the faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality.”

Our team members Forrest Alton and Cayci Banks have recently been featured on The Jinks Perspective, a YouTube channel where Patrick Jinks, leadership and strategy coach, dives into issues facing the nonprofit sector.

I wanted to write a deeply reflective blog about leadership timed just right for Leadership Week at the University of South Carolina. I thought this was THE PERFECT time for me to lay out my thoughts on leadership and especially on my current experiences with leadership transition.

From nonprofit CEO… to board member… to board chair… and now as co-owner of a consulting firm that focuses on issues related to organizational efficiency, growth, development, and change, I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time in board rooms.

In 2014 when Forrest Alton was serving as the CEO of the South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, he gave an inspiring TedTalk in Columbia, SC where he encouraged the audience to be bold, be concerned, and be available to the young people in their lives.

More than 20 years ago, in the early 1990s, conversations were taking place among a few committed citizens in South Carolina - all concerned with the high teen birth rate in the state. As the stories have been told to me, this was a small group.