The Origins of EJ Pt. 2
“If organizations apply the right strategic frameworks, and identify responsible ways to be efficient, they can meet their basic financial needs, and even plan for growth, when growing is the responsible thing to do.”
“In those years [working with nonprofits], I became increasingly exasperated at the pressure to constantly increase the bottom line, knowing full well that the bottom line wasn’t necessarily the problem. The problem was the focus on money – without the systems, tools, and resources in place to use that money to its full potential…
[Setting off into corporate America], I was bargaining on being able to observe, learn, critique, and draw even more conclusions about who we are, how we organize, and what’s going on in other industries that’s applicable to creating healthy small businesses and nonprofits.” — Vol. 1: The Origins of EJ.
My goal was specific and yet vague. I understood that in the world I was coming from – where I supported community impact organizations – resources were often not used to their fullest potential. These resources were namely money, technology, and people. In turn, this typically led to constant financial stress, minimized programmatic or product impact, investment in unnecessarily expensive systems that became neglected or contained faulty data, and talented professionals who were otherwise burned out and underpaid.
I also knew there were thriving businesses.
So my goal summed up was this: As a corporate consultant, I wanted to expand my knowledge and experience by working with a variety of clients and industries, learn whatever the secret profit sauce was, and assess what about it was ethical and applicable to helping smaller, more philanthropic enterprises thrive. At some point in the future, I’d figure out how to apply my findings.
(I probably could have just taken some classes, that’s called an MBA, but these weren’t lessons I wanted to learn in a classroom or according to a canon.)
I don’t need to belabor the details of those years. As in any job, I had good experiences and bad ones. I went from being overworked, to even more overworked. I had coworkers who have become some of my most cherished friends. I experienced the challenges of toxic management. I gained an incredible depth and breadth of experience, across industries, business, and government.
I hope I left a positive impact on the individuals and institutions with which I interacted.
As for the secret sauce, there are also positives and negatives. I think most of us know the negatives. There are a lot of irresponsible profits. There is also a lot of reckless growth and investment. Too many billions depend on the exploitation of people and the environment.
But here’s my positive takeaway. If organizations apply the right strategic frameworks, and identify responsible ways to be efficient, they can meet their basic financial needs, and even plan for growth, when growing is the responsible thing to do. It’s a simple takeaway, but the knowledge tools don’t often exist to make it achievable in smaller organizations.
And so here we are. As I was reaching my limit on the demands of corporate life and considering a pivot, a novel Coronavirus happened to be sweeping the globe. Before it was called the Great Resignation, I joined a movement of people who have decided we’re going to approach life a bit differently. I had my conclusions, and the knowledge and tools I needed to apply them. The circumstances for me to make my pivot presented themselves.
Through EJ Idea Lab, I aim to make world class business knowledge accessible to small businesses and nonprofits by focusing on the development of the strategic frameworks and key systems that drive organization success. This approach is based on having healthy:
Strategy: Just as important as making money, organizations also need an idea of where they want to go, and concrete steps for how they will get there.
Revenue: It’s not effective to just go after money, and more of it. An organization needs to understand how much money it needs, how much it needs to sell or raise in order to meet those needs, and when and how to grow responsibly.
Program & Product Management: Measurement and evaluation can feel like a frivolity when an organization is running on fumes, but understanding the performance of your products and services helps you make decisions in the moment, and plan for the future.
Operations: Most nonprofits and small businesses don’t need to over-invest in or over-engineer their operations; instead, they can streamline system and data operations, freeing up time and money to invest in people and programming.
The final (but ever-improving and evolving) sauce turns out to be simple but succulent. A reduction that, when applied to the operations of small businesses and nonprofits, can help them thrive, achieve their mission, and contribute to the health of communities.
Feel free to share the wealth! If you know an entrepreneur, social innovator, or organization that could use our services, please share our information.
