Lessons for Non-Profit and Start-Up Leaders: Tales from a Reluctant CEO

By Michael B. O'Leary and Maxine Harris

Book Overview

Lessons for Non-Profit and Start-Up Leaders: Tales from a Reluctant CEOuses the experiences of a real company, Community Connections, to bring to life the practical dilemmas that an organization founded on a mission and guided by a set of ideals must confront and solve if it is to thrive. With no business or financial background, Maxine Harris and her partner Helen Bergman grew a tiny startup into a $35 million business. Through trial and error, they learned how to manage finances, hire staff, overcome barriers, and adapt to changing business models. In Lessons for Non-Profit and Start-Up Leaders, Harris shares her insights, struggles, and mistakes with the goal of helping others who may be starting and running non-profit organizations. She spells out the ways in which creativity, tenacity, and the power of relationships helped her and her partner overcome barriers that often cause start-ups to flounder in their first years of operation. In a humorous and novel twist, the book engages the reader with a series of original fables, each tailored to introduce a business dilemma in the language of "make-believe." Michael O'Leary provides commentary that places the stories and case studies from Community Connections into a broader context, making the lessons accessible to anyone working in the non-profit or startup sector.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1442276533
• ISBN13: 9781442276536
• Release Date: September 2017
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.2"