How Can Nonprofit Leaders Bring Innovation to Their Organization? (Leah Kral)

How can you foster sustainable innovation within your nonprofit? Between the pandemic and workforce shortages, many nonprofit leaders today are likely exhausted and running out of actionable ideas. It's said that adversity drives innovation, but for many, that well is drying up too soon. So where are all the good ideas? In episode #204 of Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, nonprofit strategist and author, Leah Kral, explains that as leaders of nonprofits, we have the power to create the perfect formula for innovation within our organizations. While there are no quick fixes, the effort and energy you put into these solutions now will be the garden for future innovative abundance. Innovation and impact are not a gamble that might someday payoff, but with intentional mission drive, culture building and strategic planning, innovation and impact are within reach of any nonprofit organization. 

"As a leader, give your team the best tools for creative problem solving."

ABOUT LEAH

Leah Kral is an expert facilitator and author who helps nonprofits innovate and further social change. She is a sought-after speaker at nonprofit industry events and writes frequently about her research. Her new book is Innovation for Social Change: How Wildly Successful Nonprofits Inspire and Deliver Results (Wiley, 2022). Leah is the senior director of strategy and innovation at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, in Virginia. The Mercatus Center is the home of heterodox thinkers and economists who work to discover what aspects of institutions and culture help societies prosper. Leah has been with Mercatus since 2006, where she has been providing tailored workshops and consulting to internal teams and to a network of university research centers across the country. For decades, she has been helping teams to break out of the busy daily routine and draw out their best creative thinking. She helps teams to design pilots, program strategies and meaningful evaluation approaches, leading to better outcomes and more compelling stories for supporters. She has a passion for helping altruistic organizations achieve their missions and is an active volunteer in her community. She holds a Master of Arts in public policy from Duquesne University and is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Jamaica 2002-2004). 

EPISODE TOPICS & RESOURCES 

• Innovation for Social Change: How Wildly Successful Nonprofits Inspire and Deliver Results by Leah Kral

• Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant

• Learn more about Leah and the work she's doing here

• Take our Podcast Survey and let us know what you want to hear!

• Check out Patton's book Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership: Seven Keys to Advancing Your Career in the Philanthropic Sector