(we're back with another long form email! If you want to skip straight to read the articles I'm discussing in this email, you can visit the articles section on our website) You're exhausted, I know. You're the only one who knows how the donor database works. Board members text you on weekends. Your team escalates every decision to you. You haven't taken a real vacation in three years. And everyone tells you how dedicated you are. How committed. How essential. But what they're not saying (but...

Below are some (just a few!) honest opinions that I hold on the topic of professional development, from my vantage point as a recovering nonprofit leader. Most professional development in the nonprofit sector is performative. We attend conferences, collect certificates, and check boxes while our organizations burn out the people doing the actual work. Real professional development isn't a workshop. It's creating space for leaders to admit what they don't know without fear of losing...

At 95 years old, Warren Buffett hands over Berkshire Hathaway's CEO role to Greg Abel tomorrow (January 1, 2026) after 60 years in the seat. Everyone's covering the obvious story: legendary investor retires, successor steps in, $1 trillion empire continues. But there are two details that every nonprofit board needs to understand: He announced this in May. For a December 31 retirement. It's not automatically good advice to still go into the office after you retire, and it also not always a...