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Leaders Who Crave

To Change the World, You Need More Than Passion
Tom Massey | Outcomes, May/Jun 2007

All social sector organizations have the potential to improve the world and make people's lives better. So why do some organizations produce a flood of results and impact, while others seem to spend most of their energy measuring and splitting the few drops they control?

Through 9 years in nonprofit management and 19 years in providing professional services to hundreds of social sector organizations, working on answers to that question has been the central focus of my work life, formal and informal education, research, personal interest and calling.

I've worked with organizations that share similar communities, economic environments, histories and even causes—yet one soars and the other struggles. The only consistent differentiation I've discovered requires understanding what thesmall group of staff and volunteers leading the organization cares about deeply and constantly pursues.

The best organizations I've observed are led by a group of key staff and volunteers who crave future mission results over the current situation, past programs, contemporary best practices, institutional pride, and even their own jobs or volunteer roles.

If craving sounds too much like fluff and lightweight for you, you probably haven't seen the resource alignment, results analysis, staff metrics, research and accountability of leaders who crave to correct a wrong in society or further a righteous cause. Leaders who crave demand rigor and discipline, and not just to "best practices." Best practices are not good enough for leaders who crave—they seek cutting edge solutions to achieve over-the-top results.

Craving is both a "head" and "heart" activity.

More than Just Leadership

All of us involved in organizations run the danger of using the term leadership as a one-liner quick fix, because everyone in the room will nod in agreement. "The difference is leadership." It's almost so overused it has lost significance.

In further defining good or better leadership we often talk about what good leaders do: cast vision, draw people and resources toward that vision, set strategy and inspire achievement. I applaud all those activities, and they will lead to levels of success.

However, the activities of a leader often change over time, in different situations, and to address different challenges and opportunities. Also, I can show you two highly effective organizations with two great leaders who do very different things. The activities on their "to do" lists are quite different. 

Some look at the characteristics of a leader, or leadership styles. Others look to past performance, experiences, education, skill sets and even IQ/EQ. My case studies of successful organizations would show a variety of styles and resumes that could not be more different—yet measurable mission results are evident.