Force multiplication

We're in different positions this time.

The guest is in the host seat and, uh, the host is in the guest seat, which means today I'm gonna be a guest on Force Multiplier.

How does that feel?

I, I actually started podcasting because it forced me to ask questions.

Here we explore what it really takes to build sustainable impact by being the business that you are.

What does it take to sustain your organization when your growth is outpacing your people strategy? In this Force Multiplier episode, QE Barnett shares her path from an early tenure at the Atlanta Community Food Bank under founder Bill Bowen to founding Kaizen LLC, a strategic HR consulting firm that brings chief people officer level leadership to mission driven organizations worldwide.

whose growth has outpaced their people infrastructure.

With more than 20 years of experience, QE has built HR functions from the ground up across both nonprofit and for-profit sectors.

In this episode, QE shares how infrastructure fundamentally influences an organization's culture.

Why not trusting a decision that you've delegated can be more damaging than the decision itself and insights on leading versus managing.

QE is definitely a force multiplier, and I'm excited to share this conversation with you.

Dewey, I want to thank you for taking the time to join me today on the podcast and share your expertise and your perspective on organizational care and health and how important that is to organizations that want to grow and scale and really what that means.

We're not thinking acutely enough about the impact of AI and tech will swoop in and make markets for themselves if we're not careful.

I want to shift gears a bit and talk about the force multiplier checklist.

We've covered a number of the things that are incorporated in that, but you use the example of Botswana's own youth prevention strategy campaign, I should say, as an example of how it worked.

Could you walk us through that?

Yeah, so the force multiplier checklist, some of the things that you alluded to, I've already mentioned, but it's just whenever you introduce a new digital solution, ensuring that it aligns with national priorities, that it's interoperable, that there's sort of capacity building baked into it, that there's a viable financial sustainability plan, none of it particularly rocket science, And then importantly, that it's co-designed with end users in mind.

And so in the Botswana example, I think part of the reason why that intervention was so successful was that it was co-designed by youth.

And they loved it and took it on and took it to scale because it was relevant to them.

Here we explore what it really takes to build sustainable impact by being the business that you are.

What does it take to bridge the business side of a nonprofit with its heart and mission? In this Force Multiplier episode, Susan Nichols shares wisdom gained from 33 years in the nonprofit sector.

As founder of Connecting Communities Consulting, Susan helps nonprofits bridge the gaps between their mission, business, and community needs by refining their systems and structures, including boards.

When Susan and I first met, I was struck by her balance of being deeply relational and highly business-minded.

all with a real heart for nonprofit work.

In this episode, she shares how the executive director and board chair relationship serves as a critical organizational health check, how a thrift store she led grew to nearly a million dollars, and her perspective about guided risk.

Susan is definitely a force multiplier, and I'm excited to share our conversation with you.

Susan, thank you so much for joining me today.