The Nondescript Wednesday
The pressure Executive Directors are under right now is real. EDs are raising more money, but less than necessary. Costs go up. Programs are oversubscribed. Donors ask for more proof. Every funder uses a unique login for a new "easy" reporting mechanism. Everyone wants faster, cheaper, stronger results.
I could clearly feel that pressure again when I read about it recently. Because I lived it.
As an ED, I found creative ways to make a big difference with a small budget. I was always making explicit tradeoffs with my time. Do I deal with the crisis that's right in front of me right now? Or do I spend this time writing the grant that I won't see — if ever — until much later? That push-pull never really stopped.
Over and over, the people who paid the price were my team. We got there early and stayed late, and hit repeat. No overtime. Just dedication and purpose. That's the not-so-secret sauce of the nonprofit world. People feel the importance of the work, and they're willing to do what it takes to get it done.
One story really stands out for me.
I had taken my team off-site for a planning day retreat in a beautiful venue. We were looking to the future — what we'd do that quarter, later that year, what we might consider two years out. I wanted the team thinking with a future orientation so I asked a simple question: "What are you looking forward to in the next few months?"
When the team told me it was my turn, I surprised myself with what came out. I was looking forward to a nondescript Wednesday in the fall. A day I'd come into the office. Do a normal day's work. Go home. And nothing would happen. No crisis. Just a regular day.
That fall turned out to be a mess — crisis after crisis. But it stuck with me.
The pressure we're under as leaders always comes out somewhere.
The pressure we're under as leaders always comes out somewhere. For me, it comes out as just working harder. Staying later. Getting in earlier. Believing that if you just push a little more, eventually you'll figure it out. Taken to extremes, it's easy to flirt with martyrdom.
What I've noticed is that good leaders don't pretend the pressure isn't real, but they do pay close attention to how it's showing up in them. They notice they are coping and they make explicit trade-offs.
For me, excellence was — and still is — a really strong value. I wanted things done well. I wanted the standard to be really visible. But at some point, I had to admit the system was too stressed to carry my value in the moment. Letting go felt like giving up, but it wasn't. It was choosing to set aside my personal value for a time in support of something bigger — the health of the team.
That's the kind of leadership sacrifice that is much more useful than burning yourself out. Or normalizing overwork. Or pretending unhealthy boundaries are just part of leadership.
Sometimes leadership isn't about holding every value at once. It's about knowing which ones you and your team can actually carry — for now.
If you're curious where the pressure is showing up in your leadership, the Leadership Check-In is a free 20-minute diagnostic that gives you a clear picture of where things are landing — and where they're not.
En route — but aren't we all.