Monthly Archives: November 2012

Lifetime guarantee

Posted on November 28, 2012 by

18 months ago I got a fancy work bag as a gift.  Within a year, the little ring holding the strap to the bag broke; a few months later the second one broke. I finally made my way to their … Continue reading →

Posted in Customers | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

33 voices

Posted on November 27, 2012 by

Moe Abdou runs a site called 33 voices and he recently posted an interview we did there.  It was a far-flung conversation and Moe does the heavy lifting of boiling that down to 10 maxims – in addition to posting … Continue reading →

Posted in Linchpin | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Investing in leaders and ideas

Posted on November 21, 2012 by

At the start of this year, I took on a new role at Acumen as our Chief Innovation Officer. Acumen’s mission is to change the way the world tackles poverty by investing in companies, leaders and ideas.  The Chief Innovation … Continue reading →

Posted in Acumen Fund | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Two sigmoid curves

Posted on November 20, 2012 by

At this year’s opening keynote at the SOCAP conference, Katherine Fulton, President of the Monitor Institute, discussed the evolution of the impact investing sector since her last SOCAP keynote in 2007.  If five years ago the sector was all promise … Continue reading →

Posted in Impact investing | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

What it feels like

Posted on November 15, 2012 by

Think about that moment when your Board members (hopefully) introduce you and your nonprofit to new potential donors.  What’s your caricature of that conversation between your Board member and your next big donor? My vote: “(whisper) Pssst.  C’mere.  There’s something … Continue reading →

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Barbara Grant – Management Practices for the Social Sector

Posted on November 14, 2012 by

I admit it, going into an all-day training called “Management Practices for the Social Sector” I was feeling, uh, skeptical.  I’d heard great things from colleagues who’d done the training, but I was suspicious. Man was I wrong. Barbara Grant … Continue reading →

Posted in leadership | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Bob Dorf – Two customers

Posted on November 13, 2012 by

Recently I, together with Acumen’s Global Fellows, had the chance to spend the day in a training session with Bob Dorf. Bob, together with Steve Blank (who writes a must-read blog), is the author of The Startup Owner’s Manual: a … Continue reading →

Posted in fundraising | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Back

Posted on November 9, 2012 by

I got power back in my home yesterday.  We lost power 10 days ago due to hurricane Sandy.  Ten days. There was a practical element to my not blogging during this time – not just no wifi access in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Gratitude | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments