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By admin on
8/28/2008
The Great Flood: Part 2 (Group Dynamics & Leadership)
While it was still raining, we pitched up our tents inside of the barn on the second floor loft (accessed by an old, sketchy ladder) so they could dry and hung up our drowned sleeping bags wherever there was room. A band of guys set out to find the canoes and rescue them from the river. I remember hearing that they took turns diving below the water to cut the ropes that the canoes were secured to, so they could be set free and brought up the gravel road to the barn. One of my friends came back with his teeth chattering, lips blue, shaking from head to toe. We recognized the signs of hypothermia and the guys who had remained at the barn helped him out of his wet clothes while the rest of us dug through our bags to find dry clothes and warm fleece jackets that would fit him. It was interesting to see how the experience of the flood wasn’t driv ...
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By admin on
8/19/2008
The Great Flood: Part 1 (Teamwork)
It was a grey, but warm day as 32 college-aged students set out on the Buffalo National River in Arkansas. They had loaded their canoes earlier that morning with camping kitchens, food barrels, tent packs, and their own personal gear. The Destination: Mt. Hersey. Everyone called it “Mt. Hershey” instead, and they dreamed of a campsite with shady trees and grassy slopes.
The camp site was not what they had imagined in the slightest. It was a lumpy field with random patches of long-ish grass and bald spots that cracked and oozed with mud. After dinner was cooked and served, they had a community meeting where they decided to paddle hard the next day, some 30 miles, down to Tyler Bend (a luxury campsite compared to the field of mud they were currently occupying). Besides having nicer accommodation, they ...
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By admin on
6/1/2008
A few other considerations on the Kintera Acquisition by Blackbaud:
1. Reflects the "commoditization" of prospect screening. Most of the data sources these services use are similar. The value added will continue to be in the analytics to do database segmentation, and with some of the vendors, the ability to do direct appends of wealth/asset information directly to your database. We'll probably see more screening consulting services offered as value added by other vendors.
2. Consolidation in the industry, economies of scale and scope in the online services area. It's a good competitive strategy
re: GetActive-Convio and other vendors in the space.
3. Allows Blackbaud make additional inroads into providing software as a service, as they did a number of months ago with the e-tapestry ac ...
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By admin on
5/18/2008
We sometimes forget to reflect on how much our environment has changed in the last 5-10 years:
- Much more scrutiny from external organizations such as Revenue Agencies. We have to be more accurate and adhere to more rules and regulations. The rules and regulations are increasingly complex to learn and to administer.
- Donors have taken much more direct control of their philanthropy. We need to be much more careful in how we record gifts and then how we manage them once they have been received.
- More complicated giving vehicles and more complex recognition and maintenance activities such as family foundations are becom ...
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By admin on
5/18/2008
One of the first steps is to do a Google search which will bring up most of the vendors:
higher education business intelligence
business intelligence
etc.
< ...
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By admin on
2/21/2008
 Indian summers are the dream of rock climbers. The days aren’t summer-hot, but just warm enough as the Autumn breeze cools off an active climber. Reaching the top of the climb, you can see a vast expanse of crimson, gold, and pumpkin-orange hues that shine with the brilliance that only a northern deciduous forest can hold—a seemingly infinite banner of treetops.
Imagine yourself at this place. You stand at the bottom of a rock face, tying your harness into the rope that will catch you if you happen to fall. Your belayer gives you the go-ahead signal: “Climb on.” As you scale the side of the cliff, you find all the right handholds and footholds, and before you know it, you’re halfway up the cliff, but then... you stop. Freeze.< ...
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By admin on
1/18/2008
What are you doing with Web 2.0 and other “new” technologies such as Facebook, MySpace and others. The survey should only take a few minutes of your time. Online version. Print version.
More surveys.
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By admin on
10/29/2007
Everyone is a leader. Maybe you weren’t ever class president, captain of the football team, or editor-in-chief of your school newspaper. Maybe you’re not a CEO or a manager, but to be a leader is to have influence and we all have influence over someone. You have the ability to influence others for good or bad when leading people towards a decision or common goal, and there are four different ways to do it. A leadership course taught me about the four styles: Tells, Sells, Consults, and Joins.
Its funny how after completing any course, you begin to notice all of the practical applications that apply to what you’ve learned.
It was a crisp and clear autumn night, the changing leaves were dimply illuminated by the full moon as they rained to the forest floor whenever a fierce wind would spin through the trees. In a small town on a Friday night there&rsq ...
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By admin on
10/14/2007
 Summer is almost over. In-between working to pay for tuition, taking summer school courses for elective credits, and trying to keep up a social life, I have found my ever-spinning mind clamoring for a quiet retreat.
This is why I love camping. Try to tell me a better way to relax than having a nap on the beach, seeking solace beneath a shady tree, dipping your canoe paddle into a sapphire lake, participating in an impromptu Ultimate Frisbee game, or catching air during a cliff-jumping excursion. After I return from a camping trip, I am so incredibly relaxed and ready to get back to work. It's good for my mind. It's great for my soul.
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