#14: Leading for a Cause

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Hello everyone. Welcome back to the Proteus Leader Show. My guest today is Bonita Fitzgerald Mosley, Olympic gold medalist and CEO of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation USA.

Welcome, Bonita.

Great to have you.

Thanks for having me, Erika. Always great to speak with you.

Yeah.

So you've spent your post-Olympics career working as a leader in nonprofits and associations. And over the past couple of months, millions of people have been galvanized to become more active politically and socially. And I thought you could be tremendously helpful to our listeners in giving them some insight into the unique challenges of leading in the not-for-profit arena. So let's get started. How do you think leading a cause-based not-for-profit organization is different from leading in the corporate world?

I think the difference between leading a nonprofit and a for-profit company is really your bottom line is the impact that you're having on the constituents that you serve, as opposed to some profit-making endeavor.

Mm-hmm.

And the currency that you use to measure whether you're having the right impact is the outcomes that you're having and the outcomes that you show based upon the work that you're doing. Of course, in accordance with the mission of your organization, the vision you've set for where you're trying to take the organization. And ultimately, any nonprofit, whether it's a charity trying to bring clean water to, to an underserved community around the world, or trying to enhance the professional skills of someone in an association, ultimately it's the impact on some aspect of a person's life. And I think that really is the difference between a nonprofit and a for-profit company.

That's a great distinction. So Rather than focusing on, you know, what are our profits this quarter, it's what's our impact this quarter? What impact are we having relative to our mission?

Right, and I think it's outcomes as opposed to outputs. We often think in terms of how many people you're serving or something like that, but I think ultimately a nonprofit has to think Again, what difference are we trying to make on the community we're serving? How are we trying to improve their lives? How are we ultimately want to be judged based upon, are these folks better off having had this not-for-profit in place and the work that's being done or not?

Mm-hmm.

And certainly the number of people served is great, or the number of meals served, or the number of toys, you know, distributed or something like that. But, and you want to keep track of that. That's certainly the kind of the volume. of activity or the number of activities, but you've got to go a little bit deeper than that, both in the short term and the long term. People talk about longitudinal studies. They talk about evidence-based, you know, outcomes or impact. And that really means that, are you doing the work to ensure that there's evidence that your organization is doing the right thing and having the right impact?

I'd never thought about it that way, even though I've done a lot of work with nonprofits and associations. It's so clear. So as a leader, then that's what you focus people on.

Absolutely. You have to determine very much upfront, you know, what are we trying to do here? How are we trying to make an impact? And so, for instance, with Laureus, we have 4 outcome areas that we are focused on, and that's relative to young people. And we believe very strongly in— one of our founding patrons, Nelson Mandela, made this statement at a And so our work really ultimately is trying to prove out that statement. He did that with the Invictus Games in South Africa many years ago. And he really felt that it brought his country together in ways that other attempts had not done.

Hmm.

And so all over the world, Laureus supports 100 different projects. In the US, we're in 58 states. And ultimately, we want to be able to support projects that are going to be transformative. We want to use sport as a tool for social change. And we do that in 4 areas: health and wellness, education, employability, and what we call community cohesion. And that really is the ability for these children and communities at large to get along, basically, above their differences and to understand how to best integrate into the society in which they live.

And I can— as you're talking about those things, Benita, and I know this about you as a person, I can feel your passion for And I would think that that would be— as I'm listening to you, I'm thinking that would be an essential quality for a leader in a not-for-profit, to feel that passion, that connection to the mission of the company, if that's what you're really driving toward.

To me, that really— for my career, that's the bottom line. I am a trained engineer. I've worked on the fringes of the not-for-profit space— for-profit space, but mostly leading not-for-profit organizations, many of whom, as you know, If you have corporate sponsors like we do, Daimler and Richemont are the 2 global partners. And in North America, IWC Watches and Mercedes-Benz USA are the brands that support our work here in the United States. They're luxury brands.

Mm-hmm.

And so I have to deal with those corporate CEOs, with their senior leadership. And so I think one of the misnomers about a not-for-profit is that somehow it's not a business.

Mm-hmm.

And when it comes down to it, Those businesses that you're interacting with, for-profit or not-for-profit, expect a certain level of professionalism, business acumen, and they expect you to operate at a high level and really to deliver on the promise that you've made to them and what they've ultimately invested in.

Oh, that's so clear. So what, what are some of the pitfalls of leading in this way and leading in a nonprofit, and how can people avoid them if they're trying to do this kind of work?

So I think I'd carry on with the last statement I was making about people have kind of a misunderstanding about what not-for-profit means. And what that means is the profits that you make in your— through the organization are ultimately funneled back into funding the work and serving the mission that you have for your organization.

Mm-hmm.

It doesn't mean that all the time you never make a so-called profit, that you don't have revenues exceed the expenses for your organization. were the case, there would be no Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that has billions in the bank and certainly spends many, many dollars as well.

Right.

There's no prohibition to having more revenues than you have expenses. There's no prohibition in having an endowment, a lot of money in the bank that ultimately you just use the interest of to serve the mission of the organization. And so I think that's the number one misnomer. Along with that, there's been this prevailing mantra, I guess, among not-for-profits for many, many years that somehow the less you spend on administrative costs, the better a nonprofit you are.

Yes, yeah, a lot of nonprofits even have that as they kind of brag about it in their annual statements.

Yes, and sometimes you'll see an asterisk that says, well, every dollar we spend goes to the mission of our organization, and there'll be an asterisk that says, However, we have a corporation that has underwritten all of our administrative costs. And so they're not saying they don't have administrative costs.

Right.

They're saying that someone has underwritten them. And so what I'm saying is that just like any business, most for-profit businesses operate at about, you know, 45%, 50% of their costs go to run the business at hand. It goes to the sales team or paying for the manufacturing of the product or service that they produce. And for not-for-profits, they hold us to somehow a different standard. And so what I'm saying is not that you should spend 90% of every dollar beefing up the salaries of the employees. What I'm saying is that in order to produce the impact that an organization is promising to produce and those outcomes that I spoke about earlier, you have to invest in— your organization in building the capacity to be able to deliver that.

Yeah.

And that includes hiring the best staff people that you can find. It includes the marketing and sales effort to bring in the revenue that you need in order to serve your mission. And so the not-for-profit should not be ashamed or apologetic about building its own capacity in order to serve the constituents.

Yeah, that's great.

So it sounds like what I'm getting from what you're saying is that a huge pitfall for people trying to build or lead a nonprofit is to think that you don't have to be— have business savvy and be fiscally responsible in the same way as you would if you were leading a profit-based organization, because you still have to be able to achieve your mission by taking in resources, using them wisely, dispersing them well.

Exactly right.

So my last question, I think, is very important. So many people today are concerned about human rights, social justice, but to your earlier point about impact, they don't know how to have an impact, even as individuals, as leaders or as individuals. So what advice would you offer people about how to lead the way and make a difference in the world right now?

I think finding that cause, you have to still connect to your passion.

Yeah.

You still have to find something that you really truly believe in, and then You know, find a way that fits into your life and your, your kind of schedule. If you become a slave to it, sometimes the enjoyment leaves and then you're not as— you're having the impact that you probably want to have. And so, you know, you've got to find something that certainly fits in your lifestyle. Possibly if you're an accountant, then you can, you know, help do the books for a not-for-profit. It doesn't have to necessarily be rolling up your sleeves, planting trees.

Hmm.

It could be something that really does coincide with the talents, your interests, and your passion.

That's great.

So find a cause that's really important to you and an organization that's— that you can connect with. And especially, I love the advice to see if they have a need for your particular skills or your particular gifts. So that combination of what you're passionate about, an organization, and what you are uniquely suited to give. I love that.

I would also say that it doesn't have to be a volunteer position. Many people like myself have made, you know, great careers working for not-for-profit organizations. And certainly some organizations are fledgling with small budgets and can't afford to pay very high salaries. There are many others that pay very competitive salaries.

Yeah.

And most not-for-profits still need an accountant. They still need someone to do operations. They still need, in many cases, an HR professional. professional, they still need a marketing person, a fundraising person, you know, sales. Some have licensed merchandise.

If you're passionate about a cause, don't put aside the idea of maybe making that your career as well.

Absolutely.

That's great.

So thank you so much, Bonita.

This is—

I love your insights. I think this will be truly helpful to people. And for those of you listening, if you're interested in finding out more about developing all of the core capabilities of being a good leader in any realm, I encourage you to go to ProteusLeader.com/topics and just explore what you find there. So thanks for listening, everyone. Until next time, here's to creating the life that you most want.

We hope you're feeling better equipped to create the career, the business, and the life you want. For more insights and tools for leadership and management, join us at ProteusLeader.com. Have an excellent day, and thanks for listening.