I’ve always thought it would be fun to organize a virtual book club, but it sounded like too much work. And I know there are other nonprofit book clubs out there. So, I’m going to do it the lazy way.

When I am reading a book that I think nonprofit marketers and fundraisers would enjoy, I’ll let you know. If you want to read it too, you can let me know. Then when I finish the book (or when enough of you have said, “Hey, we finished the book already. Read faster!”), I’ll organize a Twitter chat or conference call about it.

Sound like a (loose-knit) plan?

Here is the first book selection: Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality (Amazon link) by Scott Belsky.

Making Ideas HappenScott’s premise is that great ideas aren’t enough. Creativity isn’t enough. It’s all about the execution. And that execution is about much more than time management and having your act together (like some people would have you believe.)

His formula for making ideas happen = Ideas + Organization + Communal Forces + Leadership Capability. It’s those last two that I’m most interested in, and that I think can be most powerful in getting some really creative stuff to happen with your nonprofit marketing.

That, and the second paragraph of the intro, are what makes me think this is a good book for you:

“This book aims to take pie-in-the-sky notions of how the creative process unfolds and bring them down to earth. Creative people are known for winging it: improvising and action on intuition is, in some way, the haloed essence of what we do and who we are. However, when we closely analyze how the most successful and productive creatives, entrepreneurs, and businesspeople truly make ideas happen, it turns out the ‘having the idea’ is just a small part of the process, perhaps only 1 percent of the journey.”

I just read the sample on my Kindle on the plane yesterday and downloaded the whole book, so I’m only one chapter in.

Want to read with me?

Leave a comment on this blog post or tweet me or leave a comment on Facebook or email me.

P.S. If you want to read a great book that embraces “winging it” decision-making, check out Little Bets (Amazon link). I reviewed it here.

Published On: October 19, 2011|Categories: Your Nonprofit Marketing Career Path|