8 years in...It looks like fun, because I love the work!
The laughter is real, so are the long hours, hard decisions, and leading with joy.
Eight years.
Eight years ago, I became the CEO of
United Way Wayne and Holmes. We were a staff of 3.5 people. Today, we are a team of 5.5 people, and in between those two numbers is a story that is much bigger than staffing.
It is a story of change, relationships, hard decisions, a global pandemic, financial uncertainty, big ideas, mistakes, calculated risks, laughter, tears, and a whole lot of helping people.
And maybe it is time I admit something:
I think I make this job look too easy.
Or maybe too fun.
To be fair, I do have a lot of fun. I believe you can do incredibly serious work without being serious every minute you are doing it. I like big ideas. I like trying things that haven't been tried before. I like making people laugh. I like finding a way when everyone else sees a wall.
But behind almost every fun idea, new program, change in direction or seemingly quick decision have been hours, and sometimes months, of thought.
What happens if we do this?
What happens if we don't?
Who could this hurt?
Who could this help?
Can we afford it?
Can we afford NOT to do it?
Is this still the right way just because it is the way we've always done it?
Those questions have followed me for eight years.
And then there was COVID.
Nothing could have prepared us for that.
When the world shut down, United Way Wayne and Holmes didn't.
Our 2-1-1/ WHIRE service was the hotline. People needed answers. They needed food. They needed help. They needed someone to pick up the phone when everything they knew suddenly became uncertain.
We were figuring it out in real time, just like everyone else.
Those days changed me as a leader. They also reinforced something I already believed: United Way Wayne and Holmes has to be close enough to the community to know what people actually need, not what we assume they need.
That requires relationships.
Over these eight years, I have spent countless hours sitting across tables from nonprofit leaders, business owners, donors, school administrators, elected officials, community members and people who simply needed someone to listen.
I've learned that relationships aren't a side effect of this work.
They ARE the work.
Trust is built by showing up. Again and again and again.
The organization has changed, too. Not the mission - that is 70 years strong, but how we fulfill the mission.
Some of the decisions I am most proud of weren't the easiest ones.
We have questioned long-standing practices.
We've changed how we raise money and how we distribute it. We've invested in our internal systems. We've worked to make United Way Wayne and Holmes financially stronger and more sustainable, not simply for this year, but for the years ahead.
We have grown from three employees to 5.5 because the work grew.
And the work grew because we kept asking a very simple question:
How can we help?
Sometimes the answer has been a big community initiative.
Sometimes it has been books in the hands of children.
Sometimes it has been food.
Sometimes it has been connecting someone to a resource through 2-1-1.
And sometimes helping has looked remarkably small from the outside, a car repair, a household need, one obstacle removed so a working family could keep moving forward.
Those are often the moments that mean the most to me.
Because behind every spreadsheet, grant, donor meeting, strategic plan and board presentation is a person.
That's the part I never want to forget.
Eight years has also taught me that leadership can be lonely.
There are decisions you carry long before anyone else knows there is a decision to make.
There are nights you replay conversations in your head. There are ideas you abandon because the timing isn't right. There are changes you know are necessary even when you know they won't make everyone happy.
There are risks.
There are failures.
There are moments when you wonder whether you are getting any of it right.
And then there are days when someone tells you that their child can read because of a program you helped build. Or a family stayed housed. Or someone got to work. Or a nonprofit was able to serve one more person.
And you remember why you keep doing it.
I am proud of what we've built.
Not just because we are bigger.
Not just because we are financially stronger.
Not just because we've launched programs, raised money or helped thousands of people.
I am proud because after eight years, I still care deeply about getting it right.
I still lose sleep over decisions.
I still get ridiculously excited about a new idea.
I still believe relationships matter more than transactions.
I still believe organizations have to be brave enough to change. I have to be brave enough to lead that change.
And I still believe our job is ultimately pretty simple:
We Help.
The way we do that has changed dramatically over the past eight years. I expect it will change even more over the next eight.
Good.
Because communities change. Needs change. Resources change. And organizations that want to remain useful have to be willing to change, too.
So yes, I laugh a lot.
I make goofy videos. I dream up ideas that occasionally make my staff look at me like I've lost my mind. I probably make some of this look easier than it is.
But underneath all of that fun is something I take very seriously.
The privilege of being trusted with United Way Wayne and Holmes.
The responsibility of being trusted with our donors' dollars.
The responsibility of leading a team.
And most importantly, the responsibility of helping our neighbors when they need us.
Eight years later, that responsibility still matters to me just as much as it did on day one.
Maybe more.
And after eight years, I can say this with absolute certainty:
It has been hard. It has been fun. It has been exhausting. It has been rewarding. And it has been one of the greatest privileges of my life.
Here's to whatever comes next.
