The compliance function ensures that an organization abides by its internal rules and external regulations and laws. It is closely related to risk management, since effective compliance channels employee behavior toward good practices and away from potentially harmful ones.

Nonprofits, startups, and small businesses do not have to spend substantial resources to begin applying basic principles of compliance. In this podcast, I note four tools small organizations can use -- for free or very low cost -- to begin benefiting from compliance principles in their daily activities.

In this short podcast, I mention four books -- Gino Wickman's Traction, James Kouzes and Barry Posner's Credibility, Ken Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Ethical Management, and Susan Scott's Fierce Conversations.

What are the most critical threats and opportunities facing nonprofits, and how should they respond to these risks? In this podcast, I interview Nell Edgington from SocialVelocity.net. We talk about many important topics, including the following:

- how the nonprofit landscape has become more competitive;

- why nonprofits need a theory of change;

- the need for metrics;

- how and when to engage in strategic planning

- how nonprofits can determine whether they are applying best practices;

- the benefits of a financial model assessment; and

- how to address common risks involving a board of directors.

What are the most critical threats and opportunities facing nonprofits, and how should they respond to these risks? In this podcast, I interview Nell Edgington from SocialVelocity.net. We talk about many important topics, including the following:

- how the nonprofit landscape has become more competitive;

- why nonprofits need a theory of change;

- the need for metrics;

- how and when to engage in strategic planning

- how nonprofits can determine whether they are applying best practices;

- the benefits of a financial model assessment; and

- how to address common risks involving a board of directors.

Is there a better process for sales? Robert Pryor thinks so. In this podcast, we have a chance to interview Robert, author of Lean Selling: Slash Your Sales Cycle and Drive Profitable, Predictable Revenue Growth by Giving Buyers What They Really Want. In this entertaining and wide-ranging interview, we discuss what "Lean" means to Robert and how he has fundamentally shifted sales thinking by applying lean principles to sales. We also talk about how lean selling applies to startups and nonprofits.

In this podcast interview we speak with Katie Paine, an expert in data measurement, particularly for purposes of marketing. She is the author, with Beth Kanter, of Measuring the Networked Nonprofit. Katie is the founder of Paine Publishing, which (in her words) is “the first educational publishing firm entirely dedicated to making more Measurement Mavens.” She publishes the excellent Katie Paine's Measurement Blog.

Thinking about using a virtual assistant? In this interview, Risk Alternatives CEO Ted Bilich talks with Katie Miller, founder of Assistant Match, who is an expert on creating effective VPA relationships.

Karen Bate, founder and Chief Executive Officer of KBConcepts PR in Arlington Virginia. Karen is a natural connector -- so much so that she has founded a networking group for female entrepreneurs called Arlington Women Entrepreneurs.

When beginning risk management, what factors should you use to prioritize your risks? This podcast provides a road map. It answers three questions:

First, what factors should drive the determination of whether a given risk is of high or low priority

Second, given those factors, how should participants determine the absolute and relative weights assigned to different risks?

And third, what should the organization do with the results of participants’ prioritization exercise?

When beginning risk management, after an organization performs a risk inventory it faces an important question. If we want to focus on first things first, how should we decide our priorities?

Some organizations, particularly nonprofits, face an even more basic question. Whose priorities are they? Does the board of directors decide, or are priorities a staff issue?

Finally, some might ask a further question. Haven’t we already set our priorities in our strategic plan and annual operating plan?

This podcast answers those questions.

In this podcast, we discuss why a risk inventory helps an organization identify priorities, how to perform an inventory, what results to expect, and what emotions your team will deal with during the process.