Navigating Leadership Challenges

As leaders at every nonprofit — no matter the size or cause — grapple with challenges to their missions and finances, it’s especially important to tap into the wisdom of executives who have helped their organizations weather previous threats.

Barron Segar is one of those leaders. He took over as head of World Food Program USA just a few months before Covid ripped across the globe.

Before that, he worked as executive vice president and chief development officer at Unicef USA, and he is a founding executive board member of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, serving more than 30 years on the National Board of Directors. 

Segar walked host Stacy Palmer through the ways he is persevering through current leadership challenges. He discussed how he is talking to his staff and leaders about preparing contingency plans in case funding gets tight; how he decided to call staff back to the office a few days a week and explained his rationale; and why he put into the budget money for each staff member to take advantage of professional development.

Among his advice for leaders:

• Candor with staff is essential, especially in anxious times. 
• Always ask about the staff’s capacity to handle a new project. 
• Changing course is okay. 
• Ask donors what the organization is doing right and where it needs to improve. 

Connect with Segar on LinkedIn.

Watch a video of this interview on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/StKzFQR4ob4

For more advice on leadership, check out these articles from the Chronicle:

• “A Really Tough Job: Nonprofit CEOs Work to Make Their Roles More Manageable” by Ben Gose
• “Me and My Shadow: A Peer Learning Model Helps Leaders Grow” by Ben Berger and Shuki Taylor
• “How to Retain Skittish Donors Amid the Economic Turbulence” by Rasheeda Childress
• “Tips to Maintain Your Well-Being Amid Tariffs, Layoffs, and Recession Talk” by Rasheeda Childress
• “How to Find Fundraising Mentors — and Best Learn From Them” by Rasheeda Childress
• “Show How Your Nonprofit Is Making a Difference: 10 Dos and Don’ts” by Lisa Schohl
• “(Video) Two CEOs Share Insights on Leading in Challenging Times” by Chronicle Staff
• “Leadership at the Crossroads” by George Anders

Nonprofits Now: Leading Todayis hosted by Stacy Palmer. It’s produced by Emily Haynes at theChronicle of Philanthropyand from Reasonable Volume, Mary Dooe is the producer, Mark Bush is our engineer, and Rachel Swaby and Elise Hu are executive producers. Additional support comes from Margie Fleming Glennon, Andrew Simon, Nick Adams, Krista Niles, Amaya Beltran, and Kyle Johnson. 

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