“I can guarantee you that well-rested, joyous, fun-loving people who think, ‘I love this work!’ are going to get far more done in less time.”  ~ Akaya Windwood

In May, Rockwood’s President, Akaya Windwood, gave a talk, “Strange Bedfellows: Leadership, Trust, and Collaboration,” at the 2013 Office Depot Foundation Weekend.  You can watch the full talk on the Office Depot Foundation YouTube Channel, and enjoy some of the inspirational nuggets for nonprofit leadership from Akaya below the video.

Have a great weekend!

1. None of us can make the changes that we need to make alone. Really. Raise your hand if you think, “Actually, I have everything I need to do what I have to do alone.”

2. No one sector can do this alone. No one movement can do this alone. It’s going to take all of us. So, if we’re talking about immigration reform, we also need to be talking about environmental issues. We also need to be talking about access to water. We also need to be talking about economic development and GLBT issues, and women’s reproductive rights. It’s all the same thing in some ways. We won’t be talking about all of those things all the time, but we need to keep all of those in our minds and our hearts so that we’re making a collective movement toward what I call, the common good.

3. Relationship before issue or task.

4. Community before strategy or action.

5. Go slow to go fast.

6. Leadership is inherently relational.

7. Everyone who comes into our universe is a potential partner for the rest of our lives, if we’re willing to risk. Collaboration is inherently risky because it means I get to show up, for real. And I’m asking you to show up, for real.

8. We define leadership as the ability to align and inspire others toward common goals.

9. Appreciation is three things: brief, true, and from the heart.

10. I believe that if we, as leaders who are working toward the common good, build trust, work across the ways in which we’re different, take the risk of intimacy (say who I am, what matters to me, and listen), and create conditions and cultures of appreciation and well-being, our world can change in a lifetime.

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Come get some more inspirational leadership nuggets at the Art of Leadership and the Advanced Art of Leadership!