Charities have been urged for years to become more like businesses. But Nancy Lublin, a nonprofit executive, believes that charitable organizations have a lot to teach corporations, too.
In her new book Zilch: The Power of Zero in Business, Ms. Lublin writes about smart management practices she and other nonprofit leaders have developed so they can do more with less. (To learn more about Ms. Lublin and her book, see this article from the latest issue of The Chronicle.)
Join us on Tuesday, July 13, at noon U.S. Eastern time for a discussion with Ms. Lublin, chief executive of Do Something, a charity that seeks to inspire youth activism. She will be available to answer questions about nonprofit management, leadership, and more.
Get more great stories about the nonprofit world delivered to your inbox every weekday. 
Comments
1. charliebernstein - July 09, 2010 at 03:53 pm
Thank you! After years of hearing business people say we should be more like them, it's refreshing to hear about someone who's telling them how to be more like us.
Do we really want to emulate Enron, BP or Lehman Brothers? How about BP? And is there something intrinsically wrong with being run like Harvard, the Mayo Clinic, or Girl Scouts of America?
Whether you work in a for-profit or a nonprofit, management's job is to strive daily to build the best organization possible. But the way nonprofits work is fundamentally different than the way businesses work. A sudden surge in customers tends to be a business's dream, but a surge in clients is many nonprofits' nightmare. The same top-down directive that creates greater efficiencies in a large conglomerate can easily be ignored or derided in a multi-chapter nonprofit.
So many of the leadership qualities that make a businiess flourish can wither a nonprofit.
Glad you're taking this one on!
2. daviesles - July 12, 2010 at 05:24 pm
I guess Peter Drucker had it right!