One of the most problematic tropes that gets emphasized over and over again for nonprofit leaders can wind up absolutely wrecking your ability to really connect with decision makers. That’s the belief that you must be ultra-professional in your approach when dealing with decision-makers, especially the higher up ones. The more powerful and influential the decision maker, the more you're supposed to show up in your super-professional approach. 

There's a big problem with that. Because what that does, when we come in all buttoned up and professional, is that we strip most – or all – of the emotion out of our voice. And it's that emotion that actually causes connection. So when we take it out, what do you think happens? Nothing good. 

But we've been told so many times, over and over, by bosses and higher ups and maybe other people in our lives. We've been told you’ve got to be professional. The problem is nobody took the time to kind of take that apart and say, what does that mean? And what does that specifically mean in the context of trying to engage a decision maker? So we're taking all that apart, and putting it back together again in a way that's actually going to work for you.

In this episode, we share:

• How professionalism has been used against many of us, and caused us to walk a much narrower path 
• The roots of self-suppression, and why it can be difficult to break free of that
• Two critical shifts away from “professionalism” that will cause you to be much more effective in engaging decisionmakers
• How to avoid excessively technical language, while still demonstrating your mastery of technical details 
• How to begin to bring a fuller range of self-expression into interactions with decisionmakers, without it getting too scary

If you found value in this episode, please share it with other progressive nonprofit leaders.  And I’d be grateful if you would leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts, which will help even more people find out about this podcast.

Thanks!