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Passion as a driver of the extraordinary

Back in 2011, we were sitting in a café talking about what really matters. We were frustrated by the can’t do, don’t do and won’t do people – the ones who want to play by the rules and play it safe. We talked about injustices that exist in our community (current Government policy on asylum seekers is a perfect example) and the ways we could bring about change. By the end of the conversation, we had written the business plan for The Dragonfly Collective on a napkin. Read more

Is strategic planning a moral imperative for not-for-profits?

Organisations can act without morals or ethics. The past several years have exposed corporate disgrace in many places. For-profit greed, hubris and narcissistic power has led to crisis after crisis (see John Harris’s article ‘politics and corporate disgrace’ in The Guardian Weekly). But one could enquire why we would expect anything else? For-profits seek profit. But what about our expectations of not-for-profits? Read more

Truth-telling, power and courageous leadership

In a recent blog ‘speaking truth to power’ Benny Callaghan referred to the lived experience of those who identify an organisational culture that is diseased, proped up by people in power that are resistant to authentic change.

Benny’s insightful blog raises a whole series of issues for those who are in power and for those who perceive cultural and systemic illness in any organisation or indeed in any society. There is indeed the issue of ‘power’ being spoken to and the issue of ‘power’ being able to hear. Read more

Are non-religious not-for-profits dodgey?

In the new book Driven by Purpose, the claim is made that of the 60,000 ‘charities’ across Australia, most have lost their way and are no longer clear about what they once stood for and why they now exist.  But it would appear that the divide being referenced is not between those with a clear purpose and those without, but between those that are faith-based and their “dodgey” counterparts. Read more

How can we use the future to plan (part 2)?

When an executive team develops a strategic plan, how is it that they know whether the direction they chose was the ‘right’ or ‘best’ one? What options had they considered? What assumptions did they make? What did they ignore (consciously or otherwise)? Strategic foresight helps answer those questions, and demands that people are clear about the future they want to create. This post follows on from part one. Read more