Hi friend,

How have you been?

I won’t lie – I’ve been spiraling.

Even knowing that the first fifteen days (only fifteen??? 😰) of the new presidency were designed to overwhelm, I have to say, on me – it’s been working.

I’ve felt exhausted, disoriented, insatiable for information and then totally burned out by it, and so uncertain about this work of social impact:

Are we failures? (Seeing so many people still vulnerable and unsupported, now with many social impact pros among them.)

Are we screwed? (Wondering how social impact efforts can possibly keep pace through this level of upheaval to people and pipeline.)

Are we over? (Listening to some friends in impact say that, actually, this might be their exit – where’s the offramp to traditional corporate work again? 💼✌️)

I didn’t think that every social impact approach before now was working perfectly. I’m among the many of us who have mused that we could stand to evolve a lot of what we’re doing and saying and how we’re doing and saying it.

But what we’re facing now is not a measured call for reform or review – it’s a partial wipeout. And a message:

This is not a ‘normal’ era of social impact work, and it may never be again.

So what are committed professionals to do?

Whether an impact pro foresaw the shifts to our impact landscape that we’re seeing now, one thing is for certain – we’re in an all-new territory, which means all-new needs. Our challenge as social impact pros is to be smart about what that means.

There’s a good chance it won’t always be what we expect.

Here are some new takes on old norms I’ve experienced in social impact that are speaking to me now:

Turning down my own noise. I am on a ruthless audit of everything that leaves my drafts. Our voices are powerful tools, but we’ve been conditioned to throw them at every event and feel accomplished as a result. What’s the goal of talking so much at this point — to advance social impact’s biggest objectives, or to publish fodder for instant engagement? 🤨 There can be room for both, but the balance has to be strategic, and we have to have discipline. What does it look like to pause, plan, and ladder up storytelling to true impact strategy? That’s what I’m craving.

Accepting evolution. The social impact workforce is top-notch at shifting quickly to respond to crisis, but I don’t know that I would say the same about our agility in evolving ourselves. In this era, I think we’ll have to get over that. Everyone who stays in impact work now is likely to be challenged to do at least some things differently, and I think we’re better off embracing that energy. I believe we can do both – stay rooted in authentic values, goals, and histories and think flexibly about what we offer and how we show up in a world that’s quickly changing.

Acting slowly. I know in this work we’re trained to see a need and activate immediately. And I definitely believe we should stay plugged in now. But I’ve also felt an instinct to feel my way through this moment, literally. To make room for the emotions like stress, grief, detachment, confusion, and fear that have all made cameos in my mind lately, rather than trying to skirt around them through the work. So I’m taking a beat. Not to freeze up forever, but to process, think, and reclaim my clarity. I think every impact pro should do the same.

And I know – none of these pivots is going to heal the very real and present fear, loss, and uncertainty experienced by so many who lead and are served by social impact efforts in these destabilizing times. But as long as we’re still clocking in to work each day, we have a chance to keep bringing the best of ourselves — our minds, our values, our labor, our love — to humanity.

And isn’t that what we all need most?

In community,

In case you missed it

Some of us got together in New York to enjoy community and mentally prepare for the moment we’re in now. The question of the night was, how might we need to evolve our approach to impact work this year? Click to read what we gleaned:

Your Space

We welcome your thoughts, ideas, and experiences about life in the business of impact. Reach out via email at [email protected] or on Signal at @issuespace.24

And With That…

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