loader from loading.io

Essential Leadership and Bench Strength Development during Turbulent Times, Part 1

Leadership Matters

Release Date: 07/02/2025

Leadership Matters with the People’s Doctors: 2025 in Review show art Leadership Matters with the People’s Doctors: 2025 in Review

Leadership Matters

Join Dr. Sheryl White, Dr. Undraye Howard, and Dr. Loretta Howard—The People's Doctors—for an unfiltered year-in-review that confronts the leadership crises no one wants to discuss. Now, the three hosts turn the microscope on themselves and each other, asking the uncomfortable questions that emerged from the 2025 episodes of Leadership Matters. The People's Doctors confront 2025's hardest leadership truths: Why 70% of nonprofits lack succession plans, what "keeping the doors open" really costs, and which crisis innovations will actually stick. Dr. Sheryl White, Dr. Undraye Howard, and Dr....

info_outline
Nonprofit 3.0: When Crisis Becomes the Catalyst for Overdue Change show art Nonprofit 3.0: When Crisis Becomes the Catalyst for Overdue Change

Leadership Matters

Are today's constraints forcing the innovation nonprofits should have embraced years ago? Crisis pushed obvious changes—digital delivery, remote work, cross-sector partnerships—that the "old normal" resisted. Now organizations report that resource limitations actually revealed more effective operating models.   This isn't just crisis management anymore. While navigating workforce shortages and funding volatility, nonprofit leaders are questioning fundamental assumptions and reimagining their organizations entirely. Is this Nonprofit 3.0—where executives who mastered crisis response...

info_outline
Building Tomorrow's Leadership Today: The HR Guide to Strategic Succession Planning show art Building Tomorrow's Leadership Today: The HR Guide to Strategic Succession Planning

Leadership Matters

In this essential episode, we dive deep into one of the most critical yet often overlooked aspects of organizational sustainability—succession planning. From an HR perspective, we explore how strategic succession planning goes far beyond simply filling vacant positions to become a cornerstone of organizational resilience and growth.  We will examine why 70% of organizations lack formal succession plans despite recognizing leadership transitions as a top risk factor, and how HR can champion this vital initiative. Leadership Matters with the People’s Doctors—Dr. Sheryl White, Dr....

info_outline
Encore: Passing the Torch: Mastering Succession Planning show art Encore: Passing the Torch: Mastering Succession Planning

Leadership Matters

Succession planning is a rich topic that touches on leadership, legacy, strategy, and organizational resilience. In this episode, we dive into the critical yet often overlooked process of succession planning. Whether you are an executive, team leader, organizational effectiveness or human resources professional, preparing for leadership and other key role transitions is essential for long-term success. We will explore strategies to identify future leaders, mitigate risk, and ensure business continuity—plus examples of what works (and what doesn’t). Tune in to learn how to build a legacy...

info_outline
The Succession Question: Essential Conversations Every Nonprofit CEO Needs to Have show art The Succession Question: Essential Conversations Every Nonprofit CEO Needs to Have

Leadership Matters

Succession planning remains one of the most avoided conversations in the nonprofit world, yet this critical episode explores the essential questions every board member, executive coach, and nonprofit leader should be asking about leadership transition—from building internal pipelines to preparing boards for their transition role, transforming succession planning from a dreaded risk exercise into an opportunity for organizational renewal and strategic growth. We'll dive deep into both practical and emotional dimensions of leadership transition, including preserving organizational culture...

info_outline
Passing the Torch: Mastering Succession Planning show art Passing the Torch: Mastering Succession Planning

Leadership Matters

Succession planning is a rich topic that touches on leadership, legacy, strategy, and organizational resilience. In this episode, we dive into the critical yet often overlooked process of succession planning. Whether you are an executive, team leader, organizational effectiveness or human resources professional, preparing for leadership and other key role transitions is essential for long-term success. We will explore strategies to identify future leaders, mitigate risk, and ensure business continuity—plus examples of what works (and what doesn’t). Tune in to learn how to build a legacy...

info_outline
Finding Funding—Making a Way Out of No Way! show art Finding Funding—Making a Way Out of No Way!

Leadership Matters

Like a car without gas, a mission without funding typically is not going too far. Seeing one’s way forward when traditional revenue streams seem to be vanishing can feel daunting. Tune in for our discussion with Wendy McKinney a mission-driven executive, former chief development officer, author, co-pastor, and trusted leader in business, nonprofits, and ministry to explore creative options and ways nonprofits and businesses from all sectors are faced with shifting their thinking and fund development efforts. Discover new possibilities for “finding funding” to continue advancing your...

info_outline
Keeping the Doors Open: Sustaining Nonprofits through Funding, Partnerships, and Mergers show art Keeping the Doors Open: Sustaining Nonprofits through Funding, Partnerships, and Mergers

Leadership Matters

Join us as we continue this month’s series on “Keeping the Doors Open” with special guest John P. Lydon - Director of Strategic Projects/CEO Emeritus – Auberle/Ward Home/Pauline Auberle Foundation John has decades of experience practicing civil law in Pennsylvania’s federal and state courts—as well as the Supreme Court of the United States—he has represented everyone from local businesses to major insurance carriers and government agencies. Beyond the courtroom, John brought communities together by organizing municipal consortiums and serving on a range of nonprofit boards. ...

info_outline
Keeping the Doors Open show art Keeping the Doors Open

Leadership Matters

This October, join us as we dive deep into the critical world of nonprofit strategic partnerships. In an era of tightening budgets and fierce competition for donor dollars, nonprofits are reimagining survival—and thriving—through mergers, acquisitions, and innovative collaborations that strengthen their missions without compromising their values. This week we welcome special guest Mary Mulliet, President and CEO, Battle Creek Community Foundation as we explore the delicate balance of preserving organizational identity while pursuing strategic alliances, explore how to maintain donor...

info_outline
Encore - Being Hired and Held Accountable: An ED/CEO’s Guide to Board Relationships show art Encore - Being Hired and Held Accountable: An ED/CEO’s Guide to Board Relationships

Leadership Matters

What's it really like to be hired by a nonprofit board, and then work under their ongoing oversight and evaluation? In this candid conversation, we sit down with an experienced Executive Director to explore the unique dynamics of leading an organization while being accountable to a volunteer board. Matt Obert is President and CEO of Chaddock, an internationally recognized leader in trauma and attachment-based services for children and families shares personal insights into the hiring process from the candidate's perspective - from understanding what boards are really looking for to navigating...

info_outline
 
More Episodes
During July on Leadership Matters with the People's Doctors, we'll explore critical leadership challenges and provide actionable solutions for accountability, talent development, coaching and mentoring, employee engagement and retention, and building organizational bench strength.

The strongest leaders don't just react to crises—they use challenging moments to forge resilient organizations. While others focus solely on immediate problems, exceptional leaders simultaneously invest in their people and build capacity for what's ahead.

This conversation reveals how to maintain high standards and drive results when uncertainty threatens to derail progress. We'll examine proven strategies for developing talent at every level, keeping teams engaged during turbulent times, and creating cultures where people perform at their best regardless of external pressures.

You'll discover how to balance competing demands: delivering today while preparing for tomorrow, maintaining team morale while pushing for excellence, and fostering growth when resources feel stretched thin.

This isn't about survival mode leadership—it's about transformation. Whether you lead a small team or an entire organization, you'll walk away with concrete tools for building the leadership depth and organizational strength that separate thriving companies from those that merely endure.