LEAP UPDATES
Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes. 
--Peter Drucker
Welcome to the archive of monthly Leap Updates from Mario Morino and Lowell Weiss. The final Leap Update was published in March of 2022.
Six Wrenching Questions Every Board Must Answer
For those of you who are new to our monthly Leap of Reason updates, welcome to the community. For those of you who have been part of this journey for a while, thank you for all that you’re doing to spread the word. Thanks to the power of your networks, 23,000 copies of the book…
“It’s Lonely Out Here”
I feel compelled to start this month’s update with my thanks to a growing group of organizations that are generously helping us learn from their experiences taking the “leap of reason.” In recent weeks, we have benefited greatly from site visits to Congreso de Latinos Unidos (Philadelphia) and Roca (Chelsea, MA). In the coming weeks, we’ll…
When I Muzzled Myself
Before I share some heartening examples of the ways that the Leap of Reason message is rippling out into new communities, I want to share a disheartening personal story that I hope will embolden others to be a strong voice of reason on the boards they serve. When I first stepped into the nonprofit sector, I…
Two Reviews that Made Us Leap
We had expected the last weeks of summer to be quiet, but they turned out to be anything but. In addition to endorsements from thought leaders Lucy Bernholz andBeth Kanter and a lot of requests for the book from organizations that are gearing up for fall planning sessions, Leap of Reason was reviewed in Businessweek.com…
A Best-Laid Plan That Might Actually Come to Pass
One year ago this week, a close colleague and I drafted a plan to “create a readable monograph that presents a compelling case for managing for impact, distribute it to the majority of nonprofit executives and boards with a predisposition to manage with rigor, and work to make the monograph a priority read for this…
Quotes From Leaders Like You
“Managing to outcomes is not about simply counting things or gathering information. And it is not about satisfying funders. It is an internal effort aimed at figuring out what works and what doesn’t, so that the organization can provide the best possible services to its clients”
“You have to have undying passion for the population you’re serving. We can spend time patting ourselves on the back for the 85 percent of the kids who are doing really well in our program. But we need to be as concerned about the 15 percent who aren’t succeeding and learn how we can improve for them.”
“Through a process of self-reflection, our board members asked themselves fundamental questions: How can we improve? How can we make a greater impact?”
“Every day, you have to say, ’How can we do this more efficiently and more effectively?’ It’s in our DNA.”
“Any school in the country can do this. And it breaks my heart that we’re not [all] doing this!”
“Stories substituting for facts is like fingernails on a chalkboard for me!”
“You’re taking someone else’s money to get into somebody else’s life to try to make a difference. You better be showing you can make a difference!”