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Focus on Female Veterans: Finding Precise Solutions to the Transition Home

Focus on Female Veterans: Finding Precise Solutions to the Transition Home

Today, there are over two million female veterans living in the U.S.—roughly 10% of the 2018 veteran population. Women serve in all areas of the military, from frontline combat to a variety of highly technical and challenging jobs, services, and posts, including service as jet fighter pilots, tank operators, and leaders of elite units like the Green Berets, the Navy SEALS, and the Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment. Just like their male counterparts serving in active combat zones, female soldiers face the same tests of courage, valor, heroism, and—way too often—trauma.

For many veterans, the return home brings its own critical tests. Veterans are twice as likely to be homeless as their civilian counterparts. Many suffer from a variety of issues such as Traumatic Brain Injury, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and Substance Use Disorder. Many are unable to find jobs, having learned specialized training in the military that does not necessarily translate to civilian skillsets.

For female veterans, these challenges are even more profound. Female veterans suffer double the rates of depression and PTSD than their male counterparts. One in five female veterans report sexual trauma and harassment during their military service. And these are only those who report abuse. Many are reluctant to report because there are not enough structures and processes in place that can satisfactorily mitigate past abuse or offer the much-needed support to recover from the resulting trauma.

Female veterans are also more often challenged than their male counterparts as single heads of households. Finding and affording childcare, juggling the needs of family, housing, healthcare, transportation, and education are more likely to be the domain of female veterans than their male counterparts.

More and more women are joining the military. The projected numbers are that in the next 10-20 years, the female veteran population will be upwards of 18% of all veterans. Stigma about women veterans not counted as “real” veterans, a lack of proportional services for returning female vets, and not enough support for issues around sexual abuse all add up to both the cultural and practical necessity to improve and make widespread the urgency of increased awareness and solutions for female veterans.

On March 27th,we are launching our 15th Solution Series forum: Women Veterans Transitioning to Civilian Life. This event, held at the Mutual of America building on Park Avenue in Manhattan will feature a panel of experts on the issues facing women veterans. Together they will explore the challenges and generate a dialogue on what and how we in business and social services can do to offer precise solutions to the issues facing women vets. We will learn what mechanisms currently exist and how we can create scalable and replicable solutions for our returning heroes. We can be part of the solution.

I urge you to join us for this profound discussion.

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Creating a Legacy of Sustainable, Relevant Impact

Creating a Legacy of Sustainable, Relevant Impact

I wanted to begin this week by sharing how much the Fedcap family, along with the rest of the nation—and the world—mourn the deaths of the 17 people who were killed at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine’s Day. The ripple effect of these—and too many other—tragic shootings will echo throughout our country and the world and will impact generations to come. These heartbreaking stories of lives cut short and the reverberations of the trauma and tragedy become part of a family and a community’s legacy. Like so many, my hope is that by working together, we as a nation can come together to solve the problems that lead to this sort of trauma and tragedy.

Solving seemingly intractable societal problems is difficult and important work.

For the Fedcap family of agencies, we actively pursue precise interventions to eliminate barriers to economic well-being. Doing this work day in and day out demands persistence, vision and a belief in what is possible.  We are striving to halt legacies that affect not only an individual, but a family, a community, and a generation.

In our work we have learned that there is no “one size fits all” solution to eliminating barriers to economic well-being. That said, we have learned that there ARE consistent mechanisms that help. One of the most essential keys is having one or more champions who offer support, and who inspire the belief that a life can change for the better. Another factor is the access to new skills that provide a tactical and practical toolkit for growth.

One great example of interventions that made a difference is the story of Leslie Fields. Leslie had a long history of drug abuse and incarceration and a lot of bad luck around her. She was lonely, afraid and thought her life’s course was cast. But then, while in rehab, Leslie was referred to our Facilities Management Program to learn new skills. She joined our Wildcat Neighborhood Improvement Project, did well, and then went to work at Governor’s Island. She continued to do well and was then transferred to our corporate offices in Manhattan. She says of her success, “The work was great, but it was the positive energy at Fedcap that helped me to finally feel better about my life. The truth is, Fedcap gave me hope when I had none. It was like suddenly I had a friend who would back me up, no matter the situation.”

Sustaining relationships, practical skills, and hope propelled Leslie Fields to a better life.  Each of these problem-solving tools can be systematized and intentionally driven. With them we are working every day to solve problems, creating a legacy of sustainable, relevant impact.

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Becoming a Smart Disrupter

Becoming a Smart Disrupter

I spend a lot of time thinking about the general comfort people find in living with status quo. It is all around us. In my mind, maintaining the status quo is relatively easy. It is familiar. In most workplaces, maintaining the status quo allows us to carve a relatively secure place in our day to day work. For the most part, we know what is anticipated and what is expected. That said, in my experience, maintaining the status quo can also be a recipe for atrophy and, ultimately, a withering of the “edge” we need if we are to solve societal problems.

Changing the status quo means facing the often uncomfortable unknown—or even, quoting the famous Donald Rumsfeld soundbite, “the unknown unknowns.” It most often means intentionally moving into an environment where we are willing to challenge our current competency or understanding of the world. It means being willing to be a force for disruption.

Disrupting the status quo propels us forward –creating an environment where we can innovate and design new products and interventions – untethered by what was. Smart disrupters—in any field improve their products and drive the market demand. The recipe for challenging the status quo and becoming a smart disrupter is to first, recognize the orthodoxies, the patterns, the processes that drive current system design and service delivery and the accompanying outcomes. And then to be willing to ask where, within these current processes, can we introduce new ways of thinking, acting and delivering products and services? Or—be willing to create entirely new approaches, processes—driving an entirely different kind of interface between the customer and the service. (Think Uber or Airbnb)

The field of Human Services is ripe for disruption. We have used similar strategies for decades and we all know, in most cases, the needle has not moved. People served are not experiencing profoundly improved outcomes. Effective leveraging of technology, rethinking system design, re-imagining where and how we connect with the consumer—must be part of our future.

By learning how to project market trends through use of data, and effectively leverage emerging technologies and cloud platforms, we can leave status quo behind and effectively take on the role of disrupter.

I welcome your thoughts on this discussion.

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The Important Thing is Not to Stop Questioning

The Important Thing is Not to Stop Questioning

The important thing is not to stop questioning.

– Albert Einstein

Last week, we launched Fedcap’s 2018 year-long Leadership Academy.  The Academy is taught by leaders from throughout our family of agencies, board members, and thought leaders in the business and academic environments, and participation is highly competitive. It is a challenging curriculum, and it is a big commitment of time and brain power on the part of the faculty and participants.

Our first module is the undergirding module for the entire year’s study—critical thinking. Critical thinking, has many definitions, but according to Linda Elder, the brains behind the Center for Critical Thinking, it is the basis for disciplined rationality, reason, and empathy at the highest level. Being able to flex our critical thinking muscle is the foundation for solving society’s biggest problems. Critical thinking is a discipline unto itself. It is a pledge to ever improving our thought processes.

I approach thinking critically first by doing what I call “clearing the noise.” At any given time, we have so much information coming at us as we strive to solve problems that it is hard to cull through it all to make a rational decision. The influence of culture, politics, emotion, public opinion, vested interest, and unfounded logic can all lead to landing on decisions that do not reflect the highest level of thought. So how do we sort through the noise to get to the heart of the matter—whatever that matter may be?

Asking questions is the heart of critical thinking.  

Here are a few of the questions I find useful as I strive to clear the noise:

  • What is the issue I am seeking to address?
  • Why am I striving to solve this particular issue?
  • What are the environmental, social stressors that make it important to address this issue?
  • Am I sure I am trying to solve the right problem? (Many people have spent millions of dollars on solving a problem, only to realize that they solved the wrong problem).
  • What assumptions do I have as I begin to work on thinking through the issue?
  • What metrics or data exist that can inform the discussion?

How do you clear the noise? What questions do you ask yourself? How do you strive every day to improve your thinking? And…in the absence of critical thinking, how can we possibly solve the biggest issues of our day?

As always, I welcome your thoughts.

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The Importance of ROI in the Nonprofit Environment

The Importance of ROI in the Nonprofit Environment

The Power of Possible has been a part of Fedcap’s DNA since our founding in 1935—83 years ago. Every day, close to 4000 staff from all over the country work hard to deliver precise interventions and timely innovations to improve the long term economic well-being of those we serve.

We strive to run an effective and efficient organization, leveraging the talents of board and staff, supported by our donors and stakeholders. And we rigorously measure impact.

Our Metrics That Matter initiative, launched five years ago, was established to define, collect and analyze our impact. It was established to measure the return on investment (ROI) of government and  donors—believing that we have a responsibility to have an ROI comparable to the most successful for-profit companies—measured by eradication of poverty, high school and college graduation, work readiness resulting in employment in living wage jobs with career ladders. An investor cannot evaluate whether our company is worthy of an investment without first understanding our ROI. This calculation serves as the basis from which all informed investment decisions are made. Through Metrics That Matter, we seek to measure more than the number of people served, or even milestones achieved, we want to measure what matters—how investment in our company by government, corporations and individuals fundamentally changes the economic well-being of those we serve.

Return on Investment is one of the many business concepts that we apply in ensuring the relevant, sustainable impact of our organization. Understanding ROI through the lens of lives changed has and will continue to be an evolving art within Fedcap. We will continue to refine the definition of impact, and work diligently to identify, collect and analyze the “right” data that tells an accurate story.

It is through this lens that I share the story of Marilyn Burton. She had first heard of Fedcap back in the 1990s. Marilyn is quick to point out that she was not without family or friends to support her. But she suffered from very low self-esteem and struggled with drug addiction.  But Marylin’s life trajectory changed when she came to Fedcap. The dollars invested in Marilyn’s life have resulted in an ROI of a changed life.

Since her involvement with Fedcap in 2010, Marilyn continues to thrive in her work and life.

Hear Marilyn’s story.

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The Integration of Business and Non-profit Principles

The Integration of Business and Non-profit Principles

When I began my career in non-profit work several decades ago, I sometimes got feedback that our work was somehow “soft,” and unbusiness-like.  To some extent this was true, but in the past twenty years much has changed. Today we understand that nonprofits are businesses—mission driven businesses—and we have become much more effective and better stewards of community resources as we implement for-profit approaches to management and service delivery.

Specifically, studying for-profit business principles has resulted in more effective strategies for data collection, analysis and course correction. Understanding staffing needs through a productivity lens has taught us new approaches to talent acquisition.  Effectively monitoring market trends has led us to new ways of thinking about effective risk management. We’ve learned lessons in leadership and ways to practice transparency with our key stakeholders.

For us, mission is the driver for strategy and structure, and is the case for action and execution.  As social innovators, we are consistently looking at society’s biggest challenges and finding precise interventions. We are at the forefront of understanding the ways that political, social, and economic trends will affect those we serve.

With mission and the betterment of society as the centerpiece for leveraging business principles of market analysis, driven decision-making, rapid course-correction, and talent acquisition, non-profits are making relevant, sustainable impact.

I am curious: what lessons do you use in your everyday work that you learned from business?

As always, I welcome your comments.

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Action Tied to Vision

Action Tied to Vision

Every day we have so many choices about how we spend our time, what we choose to act upon and what we choose to let go. Many of us hesitate to act for a variety of reasons: we want to be sure that we’re right and we’re not going to make a mistake. We don’t know where to begin. We are overwhelmed by all that we have to do and acting on something new is just one thing too many. We are waiting for help or permission. There are hundreds of excuses for inaction.

To combat this, I try to create an environment where failure is embraced as part of the learning process.  When people are given permission to fail, I believe that they are more creative, passionate and eager to innovate.  I have much less tolerance for inertia than for trying something and failing.  In fact I applaud those who have the courage to try something to solve a problem.

I have also learned that when action is related to an overarching vision, and strategy taking that first step becomes much easier.  At Fedcap we are committed to a world where people have opportunities to overcome barriers to economic well-being. There is no one right way to achieve this vision.  As long as people across the agency are tethered to this vision and are working toward it, then I expect action to be taken in a hundred different ways.  The pivotal point is action.    Seeing how your work every day ties to a larger vision is what keeps us motivated and excited.

Articulating the purpose of the action will help eliminate those obstacles like perfectionism, being overwhelmed, or not knowing where to begin.

Do your actions each day feeds a greater purpose? Do you know how the meeting that you are attending feeds the larger goals of your agency?    Writing a report?  Developing a proposal?  If you don’t know why, then ask.  Talk with someone, see how critical what you do is to the agency’s purpose.

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Irreverent and Undisciplined Curiosity

Irreverent and Undisciplined Curiosity

“We thought that we had the answers. It was the questions we had wrong.” – Bono

Every New Year’s Eve, regardless of who I am with, I spend a portion of the evening posing questions. What matters to the people around me?  Why?  As they reflect on the past year, what happened that was of note, that made them pause? Why?  What do they expect of the new year? I want to learn, better understand how people make decisions, what motivates them, what drives them to action. I seek to understand how human nature, human intent, interacts with the day to day realities of life. This is part of my general approach to life …that questions are at least as important as answers.  Richard Feynman—a noted author— said it differently, and I like it. “Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible.” Every time I have made a mistake, moved in the wrong direction, ended up in a bit of a quagmire, I look back and see that had I asked just one more question, been a bit more curious, sought for deeper understanding, I would have acted differently.

That is my intent for 2018. To continue to be a student of the world around us, asking questions, being endlessly curious about the drivers that impact the market, staff attitudes, funder’s priorities, government decisions and the non-profit and for-profit business environment. With the hope that these questions will lead to deeper understanding and better solutions.

So I ask of you… What are you curious about this year? What kinds of questions are you asking as you enter 2018? How might asking different questions, in different ways, with greater frequency change your view of the world? Lead to a smarter way to approach an old problem? What is it that you intend to study in an irreverent, undisciplined manner?

As always, I welcome your thoughts.

Happy New Year!

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What Matters Most in Business

What Matters Most in Business

As the year winds to a close, my mind is on counting and on assessment—data, year-end numbers, numbers of people served, numbers of jobs procured, and of course, and so importantly, the relevant, sustainable impact of our work on those we serve.

But, too, at this time of year, I am focused on what matters most in our business—or in any business for that matter. The engine, the driver, the cause, the effect, and the reason for being: people. While it might seem obvious, we often forget that it is people and our connection to them that makes us thrive.

Recently I read an article that suggested that Human Resources should be renamed: Human Assets. The author of the article reminded us that resources get depleted and used up. But assets are nurtured, tended, and cultivated to grow.

Every single transaction we have with another person—whether it be colleague or contractor, consumer or case worker, donor or delivery person—has the potential to be transformational. How we treat one another—whether we’re walking down the hallway and greet someone or we send a quick email—has an opportunity to lift up the other person, to call out their best selves. As managers, we can call on and help build the strengths of people we work with and those we serve. When our managers and our colleagues see those strengths and call on them, we get taller, we grow, we are more confident, and we tend to put our greatest assets to work. Calling on strengths is how we help those we serve grow their confidence, their abilities, and their creativity.

As we celebrate the holidays, I am reminded of how grateful I am for our board, my colleagues, our donors and all of the creative people who make our work the boon that it is. And I am so grateful to those who come through our doors—willing to be vulnerable and willing to be helped. They teach us about the strength required to reach out and to connect—something we all aspire to on a daily basis. We have so much to learn from each other. I look forward to the coming year and to connecting with more of you, knowing that by doing so, I will learn more and grow and our company will be that much stronger.

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Courage: The First and Most Essential Skill

Courage: The First and Most Essential Skill

Courage is the first of human qualities because it’s the quality which guarantees the others.

–Aristotle

 

A lot of people believe that courage is something that you’re born with. And yes, there are some people who are born braver than others, but the majority of us have to learn—and build—courage as we go along.

Aristotle said that “courage is the first of human qualities.” I agree. And I believe that courage is among the most essential skills of a good leader.

Courage shows up for all of us in a number of ways. First, it takes courage to take initiative. And taking initiative involves risk. As an employee, taking initiative, working on something beyond the scope of a job description, proposing a new direction, a new idea, or a new intervention means that they are risking failure—risking owning an idea that may not work.

Another way courage shows up is in speaking up. Speaking “truth to power” can rattle a supervisor or disrupt the flow of a project trajectory. But speaking up is absolutely critical to making a difference and creating change and growth.

Courage also shows up as letting go of the need to control outcomes. This is a tough one for many people. In leadership, letting go means trusting the collective brain of your team.

So how do you “learn” courage? You learn it by practicing 1) taking initiative, 2) speaking up, and 3) letting go of the need to control. And as a leader, you lead it by creating an environment where  the people you hire can develop a courageous spirit.

Without courage, learning cannot happen. Atrophy sets in and strength withers.

The best employees are those who are willing to stretch their skills—to learn something they do not know, to ask questions and to try a new idea. These are the attributes I look for in a leader, these are the characteristics or the DNA we seek to develop through our Leadership Academy and these are the attributes we encourage throughout our organization.

I am curious: how do you build your courage “muscles?” And, as a leader, how do you encourage it in those you lead?

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