Wisdom Nugget: "Learn and Adapt"

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2008-10-28 09:30:00 UTC
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From an interview with Harvard Business School professor Herman B. Leonard. This is a slightly different take on the economic downturn conversation that's been playing out here for a couple weeks now.

Q: We are headed for some economic turmoil that could affect nonprofits in any number of ways. What should nonprofit boards be doing to prepare?

A: You can't really prepare for turmoil, you just have to adapt to it. This is a tumultuous time, but all times are pretty tumultuous, just in different ways. Nonprofits are always embedded in an environment of rapidly evolving challenges and opportunities. So they always need to be adaptive. First and foremost, this means that they need to maintain "situational awareness"—a grasp of the key elements of their environment. Second, it means that they need to rethink their approaches—severing themselves from things that used to work, inventing things that will work now. Third, they have to implement change—constantly.

So today's tumultuous world may be a bit more tumultuous than usual, but what nonprofits need to do is what they always need to do: learn and adapt.

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
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