Jack Palance, a Beach Metaphor and the Secret of Nonprofit Success - NPQ – Nonprofit Quarterly - Promoting an active an engaged democracy.: Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is?
[holds up one finger] This.
Mitch: Your finger?
Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don’t mean s***.
Mitch: But, what is the “one thing?”
Curly: That’s what you have to find out.
More than ever, nonprofits need to do what Mitch did and take Curly’s advice.
Over the course of my career, I’ve worked at six nonprofits. None of them were clear on what their one thing was. They were tossed on the waves like beach balls. What we need in the nonprofit world are more lighthouses. Even if your nonprofit is far from the ocean, I bet you’ve seen one of these lighthouses. Pick one or two nonprofits you admire. They’re most likely straddling some dangerous strait and directing their light on saving and protecting lives, easing suffering or delivering people from ignorance. They’re focused on one thing and they do it well. Damn the rest.
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