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action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/wcorgs5/public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” make_fullwidth=”on” use_custom_gutter=”on” make_equal=”on” parallax_method_1=”off” parallax_method_2=”off” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial” _builder_version=”3.0.105″ module_class_1=”ds-vertical-align” module_class_2=”ds-vertical-align” gutter_width=”4″][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image\u2014 Center : Mountain path” src=”https:\/\/wcorgs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-3-2-Mtn-path-Width-450-Res-300-Q-50-tinyPNG-47-kb.jpg” alt=”Nautilus shell” show_in_lightbox=”on” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” align=”right” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” title_text=”Nautilus shell” animation_style=”slide” animation_duration=”500ms” animation_intensity_slide=”10%” animation_direction=”left” show_bottom_space=”on” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ max_width=”99%” module_alignment=”right” \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text\u2014Title: About: The Center for World-Changing Organizations” background_layout=”light” use_border_color=”off” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial” _builder_version=”3.0.105″ header_font=”|800|||||||” header_text_color=”#00416d” header_line_height=”1.7em” header_2_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”30px” header_2_text_color=”#00416d” header_2_line_height=”1.3em” text_font_size=”22px” max_width=”99%” module_alignment=”left”]<\/p>\n
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Greetings. I’m Jonathan Reed, the person who started this Center. I’d like to start by telling you why I started the Center. Except for two years, I’ve led my own consulting firm or consulted on my own since 1988. During this time, I consulted for a broad range of organizations, both in the US and abroad. They range from corporations like General Electric and government institutions like\u00a0US Geological Survey’s Science Centers to small nonprofits. During my two-year hiatus from consulting in 2000 to 2002, I helped lead the Conservation Science Division of The Nature Conservancy.<\/p>\n
Given the challenges the world and our communities face, I decided some years ago to focus my consulting practice on helping organizations that are making a difference in the world<\/strong><\/span>. It seemed at the time, and even more so now, that the challenges we face are increasing faster than our ability to solve them. So I decided to do what I could, given my experience, to help these organizations better succeed at delivering on and supporting their missions.<\/p>\n You might think I’d focus solely on nonprofits and NGOs (non-governmental organizations that operate outside the US). But I’ve learned they haven’t cornered the market on making a difference in the world. That’s why we help what I\u00a0call “world-changing” companies, governmental institutions, and nonprofits (I include NGOs in this category)<\/strong><\/span>. They range from small organizations working in local communities to global organizations<\/strong><\/span> like the U.S. Agency for International Development, which has helped over 100 countries, and The Nature Conservancy, which works in over 30 countries. They also include companies that are as committed to making a difference as turning a profit.<\/p>\n Having made this commitment, I delved into the literature to see what management authors advise “mission-driven” organizations do to be more successful. What I discovered was …<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 … a huge disappointmen<\/strong>t.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Most of the books and articles on this subject reframe profit-making advice<\/strong><\/span> for commercial enterprises to nonprofits without addressing the unique challenges of world-changing companies, governmental institutions, and nonprofits. This was a major setback to me. Even though\u00a0I had consulted for a number of world-changing organizations, I wanted to learn what experts on these organizations recommend as best ways to make them more successful. What I discovered was that almost nothing of substance had been developed to help these organizations.\u00a0You can read my take on the state of the various management disciplines that should help world-changing organizations in the next submenu entitled “Our take on key management disciplines.”<\/p>\n Compare this dearth of knowledge to what was available when I started consulting in quality improvement in the late 1980s. By then, it was a mature field. Its leaders\u2014Deming, Juran, Ishikawa, Box, Joiner, and others\u2014wrote extraordinarily helpful books and articles on how to help companies produce high-quality products and services efficiently and at low cost. The high-quality and reliable Toyotas and Hondas many of us drive are testaments to their contributions to the field.<\/p>\n So I began what turned into a multi-year journey of research and development on the ideas and tools that world-changing organizations need to be more successful. Three themes quickly emerged from my research: the need for\u00a0better<\/strong>\u00a0strategy and marketing as well as organizational development<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/span>to a make a difference in the world. Though many subjects affect their success, none are as crucial as these three.\u00a0Perhaps we’ll broaden what we offer in the future, but for now, we currently focus on these three subjects.<\/p>\n On this journey, I adapted “transferable” ideas and tools for\u00a0profit-driven organizations to world-changing ones. For those I couldn’t adapt or were simply missing, I developed new ones. Having helped many organizations with strategic planning, I knew current planning models rarely produce effective strategic plans\u2014even for companies. So I designed a completely new way for world-changing organizations to plan strategically. I took the opposite approach to strategic marketing. Being a robust and battle-tested discipline, I simply adapted its ideas and tools to world-changing organizations while adding a few unique world-changing features of my own.<\/p>\n Though it’s probably not obvious, I spent years researching and developing the world-changing ideas and material presented on this site and in our guides and workbooks. Only by wandering down many conceptual blind alleys did I stumble on the idea of using what supports, produces, and drives success<\/em><\/strong> as the organizing principle for strategic planning. The same goes for incorporating strategic marketing into strategic planning. In hindsight, it seems like an obvious fit. But\u00a0like many of the ideas and tools present here and in our guides, it wasn’t.<\/p>\n The “opportunity costs” I’ve incurred devoting years to research and write about how to make world-changing organizations more successful has been significant. My goal is to help as many world-changing organizations as possible become more successful while still “keeping the lights on.” So how could I recoup my significant<\/strong><\/em> R&D costs while still helping as many organizations as I could? Here’s the business model I came up with:<\/p>\n Several reasons: Anyone who does research and development, as well as creative work, stands on the shoulders of those who went before them. Though I might have pushed a few boundaries in the fields I’ve written about; earlier authors created those boundaries. I’ve also observed there are “we” and “me” oriented people. Though I strive to be among the former, I know I often fall into the latter. Thus, failing as I might in real life, I can at least pretend to succeed in the printed word. Another reason is readability: “we” just reads better and connotes less ego-investment than “me.” Last, through your support,\u00a0the Center will grow into a larger organization where “we” represents all of us.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" About: The Center for World-Changing Organizations Greetings. I’m Jonathan Reed, the person who started this Center. I’d like to start by telling you why I started the Center. Except for two years, I’ve led my own consulting firm or consulted on my own since 1988. During this time, I consulted for a broad range of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2202","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nOur long research and development journey<\/h2>\n
How you can help support the center<\/h2>\n
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Why I use the term “we“<\/em>\u00a0instead of “me” on\u00a0this website and in our guides<\/h2>\n