We think you’ll agree: Based on the comments below, doesn’t this sound like an experience you want to share? To participate, visit our Online Registration.

… my agency has sent all of our senior staff

… the fabric of relationships developed is invaluable

… my participation in [ELI] was the key factor in this agency’s decision to hire me as CEO

… I became aware of my role as more than a subject-matter specialist, as a member of the leadership team

… I now feel the confidence to step up to an executive role

 … we deconstruct common challenges and brainstorm to help resolve them

… helped me see my own capabilities more clearly

… I found a group of peers to rely on long after [ELI] was over

… the unique environment makes it safe to share concerns

… made it easy to become a better executive

… my [ELI] experience helps my agency every day

… [ELI] helped me realize I would be happier as a Number Two than as a CEO; that revelation saved me from a career mistake

… a rich learning environment

… the greatest value is just participating

… the network of peers and mentors is priceless

… the chemistry between presenters and participants is powerful

… presenters are “voices from the vineyard”—real-world practitioners

… a strong sense of camaraderie

 

 



Curriculum for 2009 Executive Leadership Institute

Sunday, May 3
Orientation for New Participants

Understanding Leadership Styles
John Tropman, Lynn P. Wooten, and Undraye Howard

  • This session presents a brief exploration of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator approach to understanding your own style and that of others. The key to understanding types is that, while there is no “better” style, there are better ways of working with styles, and this can be accomplished more successfully when you become aware of your own.

Welcome Reception

  • Welcome Address
    Peter Goldberg

Monday, May 4
Welcome and Introductions
John Tropman and Elizabeth Carey

The Challenge of Leading a High Performing Nonprofit Organization
Peter Goldberg and Diana Aviv

  • Having a strong management team is the foundation of high performing nonprofit human service organizations. This workshop blends state-of-the-art research in organizational development with practical lessons learned by two of the country’s foremost nonprofit leaders. It offers participants an understanding of the appropriate roles for volunteer and executive leadership as well as emerging trends within the sector.

Life Lessons for a Leader
Jeffrey Zaslow

  • Leaders can learn a lot from the advice of the late Randy Pausch, the former Carnegie Mellon University professor best known for his “Last Lecture” given while he was terminally ill. Zaslow, co-author with Pausch of the current international bestseller The Last Lecture and columnist for The Wall Street Journal, will provide a personal perspective on the observations and advice of Pausch while also drawing on his own column, Moving On, which tends to the hearts and emotions of The Wall Street Journal readers.

Increasing Your Personal Efficacy
John Tropman

  • The late Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture” has moved and inspired us to take advantage of the time we have. But inspiration requires perspiration to become an active reality. This presentation provides you with some competencies (knowledge + skills) to increase your ROI (return on inspiration) through sharing the work of thinkers and writers who have found ways to increase personal efficiency (doing things right) and effectiveness (doing the right thing).

Tuesday, May 5

Zingerman’s Entrepreneurial Approach to Management
Ari Weinzweig

  • As leaders, we need to sell our staff on the ideas, beliefs, and results that are critical to organizational success. At Zingerman’s Delicatessen, which opened in 1982 and now generates annual sales of more than $30 million, free market concepts are used to offer appropriate rewards and creative consequences that help develop staff as business people—not just as employees. In this presentation, Weinzweig, Zingerman’s co-founder and CEO, shares how Zingerman’s has taken the tools that have made the company so successful selling to its customers and used them to sell to its staff.

A Tour of Engagement: Focus Hope

  • Attendees will tour Focus Hope, a nationally recognized civil and human rights organization in Detroit whose mission is to use intelligent and practical action to fight racism, poverty, and injustice. The organization offers a food program for eligible mothers, children, and senior citizens; education and training in information technology, manufacturing, and engineering; a community arts program; community and economic development initiatives; and a day care for children which includes a popular summer day camp.

Wednesday, May 6

Resource Development for the Nonprofit
Robert Jones and Betsy Vander Velde

  • In an area of ever increasing restrictions and conditions on funding, the need for philanthropic support from individuals has never been more pressing. The vast majority of charitable funding is provided by individuals. Yet, as compared to higher education, health, and arts, many nonprofit human service organizations are hard pressed to attract such support. To do so depends on building a culture of philanthropy throughout the organization. Leaders of the Alliance’s Resource Development Services initiative offer participants strategies which have dramatically increased philanthropic support for many Alliance members.

Revealing the Enterprise
Dione Alexander

  • Why do so many nonprofit organizations run into financial difficulties despite their excellent programs? What can we do about it? For more than 25 years, the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) has helped a wide range of nonprofit and funder audiences across the country look at their finances in a fresh and productive way. This presentation will provide lessons in how to balance your organization’s mission with its financial realities. An in-depth and dynamic discussion of each organization’s capital situation, its plans for the future, and the best path to achieve long-term goals will be featured.

Dinner and Guest Speaker
Charles Eisendrath

  • Professor Eisendrath, a former foreign correspondent for Time, who now directs working journalists in a sabbatical studies program at the University of Michigan, has definite ideas about how nonprofit leaders can position their projects for positive media attention, as well as what activities do not get covered, or worse, gain negative coverage.

Thursday, May 7

Technology for Nonprofit Senior Leaders
John Kenyon

  • Technology is taking on an even larger role in nonprofits and leadership is crucial to its successful utilization. This session will help leaders take advantage of the time they devote to strategizing about technology and provide lessons in how to best foster its potential. Participants will discuss strategies for creating appropriate technology solutions that have potential to reduce costs and increase capacity. A seasoned consultant will share a real-life experience about the essential (and non-essential) elements of technology.

Understanding the Power of Human Assets
Aimee Eubanks Davis

  • In order to meet its organizational 2010 goals, which included doubling in size, Teach For America created a human assets team whose mission was to fuel the growth and success of Teach For America through attracting, engaging, developing, and retaining extraordinary, diverse talent. At the core of the human assets strategy today is the leadership development system, which is their integrated approach to attracting, engaging, developing, and retaining the talent they need to be a high-performing, diverse organization. This session will feature a discussion about what Teach For America has learned about the importance of having a robust human assets team and a comprehensive competency model.

Graduation Ceremony of Second-Year Participants

Celebratory Reception

Friday, May 8

Reflective Learning and ELI: The Power of Connecting the Dots
Lynn P. Wooten

  • In this session, participants will create and share reflective learning maps that capture individual and group experiences during the 2009 ELI program. Individual maps will focus on a leadership theme and document three key lessons learned during the week. The theme and key lessons learned will be mapped onto action items for ELI participants to work on when they return to their organizations. In addition to mapping specific action items, the learning map will create a pathway for identifying organizational enablers, generative processes, and engaging other employees.

 

(c) 2009 - Alliance for Children and Families: www.alliance1.org