As many of you know, I’m working on a book.

I’m immersed in the depths of editing at the moment. There is one trend in particular that I’m struggling to articulate, and I wonder if you might be able to help.

I have big news to share. We're moving to France! 🇫🇷

...for six weeks. 😬

I have a few lessons to share in light of this grand adventure. But to understand how we got to today, we need to rewind the clock.

Today marks 20 years that I’ve been in this industry. 🥺

Twenty years ago, on June 7, 2024, I walked into my first day in a new job and into a new world of marketing and fundraising for nonprofit organizations.

Just a few weeks prior, I had no idea that working with nonprofits was even a career option for someone passionate about marketing and making a difference. 

The graveyards of history are littered with organizations that pioneered one way of doing things but failed to transition to the next model.

I can’t think of a better illustration than two days—ten years apart—at this little company called Blockbuster.

“Do you use AI?”  It’s an odd question, if you think about it. 

I think the way we talk about artificial intelligence today is wrong.

The conversation is either ambiguous, or philosophical, or technical, creating confusion. We talk about it in a primitive way – what does the question “Do you use AI?” even mean?

It reminds me of the early days of the internet. 

Do you remember your first time going on the internet? 

I have exciting news to share with you... On May 14, I’ll be speaking at Chick-fil-A’s Impact Accelerator Conference in Atlanta, GA!

The Chick-fil-A Impact Accelerator is a conference dedicated to supporting nonprofit leaders across the nation, hosted by the folks at Chick-fil-A HQ. The event is sold out in person, but there is still room to register to attend virtually if you are interested.

It’s a huge honor to be asked to speak on innovation, specifically on leveraging AI to grow innovation and impact.

But I have to be honest. Until recently, I didn’t think of “innovation” when I thought of Chick-fil-A. Wasn’t the idea to keep things the same and not innovate?

If you know me, you know that I believe that recurring revenue, specifically sustainable “subscription” giving for nonprofits, is one of the most significant opportunities facing charities today.

Content without Connection is Worth-Less.

If you want learning and growth to occur, then it is important to create a culture where people feel safe and connected.

I’m a teacher at heart. For as long as I can remember, I’ve derived great joy from helping others to learn, understand, and act on new insights.

I used to think that learning was all about the quality of the ideas and the clarity of the explanation (i.e., the act of teaching). But the longer I’ve taught and the more I’ve studied the learning process, the more I realize that I’ve been missing half of the equation.

This week’s Wave Report is a Choose Your Own Adventure-style journey through the power of redemptive entrepreneurship and the intersection of culture and brand.

Have you ever read a Choose Your Own Adventure book?

Today, I’d like to give you a lesson on surfing the waves of innovation and creating sustainable growth, and it’s all about attitude. 🏄

The pace of change can feel a lot like the unending pounding of the waves: overwhelming, disorienting, exhausting, and lonely.

Have you ever been to the beach and watched surfers in the water?

They never seem to be in a hurry.

The most recent episode of the Purpose & Profit Podcast features a conversation with Nathan Chappell, co-author of a catalytic book that anyone passionate about causes and the state of philanthropy in the United States should read.

The book is called The Generosity Crisis: The Case for Radical Connection to Solve Humanity's Greatest Challenges, and we discuss it in this latest episode:

Purpose & Profit Podcast | Season 4, Episode 2

One of the joys of the role I get to play in the nonprofit sector is to promote and encourage innovation. Every organization, every institution, every product, and every person is on a natural lifecycle that, left unchanged, leads to slowing, plateauing, and decline.

Season 4 of the Purpose & Profit Podcast just premiered, with an episode on a topic near and dear to my heart.

When I first started speaking and writing about the opportunities that nonprofit leaders have to tap into recurring revenue in light of the subscription economy, I came across the work of Robbie Kellman Baxter.

Expertise has a problem.

I’ve written about it before, so I’ll just summarize it here:

Expertise is often considered a precursor to innovation. Shouldn’t the most innovative ideas come from the people with the most expertise in that field? After all, they have a deep and nuanced understanding of how their field works.

The problem with expertise is that the more expert you or I become in any given domain, the more we accumulate knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. This deep expertise deservedly leads to a high level of confidence. But at the same time, it leads to narrowing one's perspective and being less open to new and fresh (read: unproven and unconventional) approaches.

In other words, if you are holding a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.Excerpt from The Problem with Expertise

What business are you in?

I’m fascinated by the search for understanding how and why organizations thrive. What drives their economic engine? And what practical insights can we can apply to our leadership?

The more I study organizations and leaders, the more I see that each organization has different natural strengths.

The answer to the question “What business are you in?” is typically answered with something along the lines of “what we do” or “what industry we are in.”

This week, I was blessed to give the first two of seven talks I’ll be giving over the next five weeks. My heart is full. 🥹

The first was an opening keynote and innovation workshop for a group of digital nonprofit marketers hosted by Five Q and sponsored by Meta. As a bonus, we got to try the newest Meta Quest 3 VR headsets and my favorite, the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses.

I was so frustrated.

We were playing against one of the worst teams in our league. To this day, I don’t even remember the name of the school, they were so small. Mind you, I was from a small high school myself – about 125 kids. But compared to our competition that day, we were a juggernaut – a powerhouse of adolescent athletic prowess.

It was early in the basketball season, and I was playing point guard. We came in confident – it was an easy game against an easy team at the bottom of the league. We expected to blow them out.

We played terribly. Sloppy ball handling. Picked bad shots. Didn’t move the ball well. Turnovers were frequent.

I’m encouraged.

After years of speaking, writing, and waving the flag for the opportunity for recurring giving programs, momentum is building.

The first sustainer program I worked on was 20 years ago. Back then, if your nonprofit wasn’t doing child sponsorship, missionary support, or membership, it was extremely difficult to build a vibrant base of ongoing monthly supporters. The vast majority of nonprofits were left out, unable to tap into the steady, predictable, and renewable source of regular giving.

Then, starting about eight years ago, I noticed how the explosive growth in the subscription economy was transforming donor behavior. Donors were increasingly willing to give to causes on a recurring basis, causes that would not have historically seen significant sustainer giving.

Have you listened to the Purpose & Profit Podcast?

If you are new here, I co-host a show called the Purpose & Profit Podcast, where we interview business and nonprofit leaders to explore the ideas at the intersection of causes and brands.

We’re closing in on the end of Season 3, so today, I want to point you to two recent episodes. The first provides insights into executive leadership from over 5,000 executives, and the second concludes with how positive change happens and how good gets done in the world.

In Part 1 of this Wave Report, we began to answer the question, “How does one actually use AI?” AI, like the internet, is not one thing. It’s a collection of tools and technologies that can impact nearly every area of our leadership and lives.

Based on hundreds of hours of research, speaking on, helping others, and my own experimentation, I’ve condensed 12 Ways to Leverage AI in 2024.

Part 1 of this Wave Report examined the first six ways to use AI effectively. Today, we’ll explore the final six.