Our office has been buzzing over the last few weeks with recommendations for great reads, which lets us know it’s time to share some new reading recommendations with you. Here’s another helping of our Summer Reading Guide, a peek into the authors and ideas that have entertained and inspired the CompassPoint staff and might do the same for you.
 

Like you, we've been watching with anger, fear, frustration, and deep sadness at the events that unfolded in Charleston this past week. In a year where the trauma of violence against black lives and bodies has been acutely present in our communities, this act of racist terrorism cuts deeply into fresh wounds. Where do we go from here and how do we come together to take on the systems of racism and oppression that lay the groundwork for this kind of violence? 
 

And now for something completely different. Like any good nonprofit employee and consultant, CompassPoint Project Director Lupe Poblano has mastered the use of metaphors to illuminate concepts associated with nonprofit structure, leadership, and strategy. In fact, in this post, we’re pretty sure he breaks the record for the most metaphors about nonprofits in one article (and that's not hyperbole, or a metaphor for that matter). Enjoy.
 

At CompassPoint, we believe in creating a culture where feedback is shared every day, and that means sharing appreciations (not just developmental feedback) early and often. This week, we're helping you do that by sharing these Valentines with messages for the friends and colleagues in your life commited to moving social change forward. 
 

At CompassPoint, we believe that nonprofit leaders and social change makers are more resilient and can work sustainably when they have a practice of self-care. Embedding self-care into our work has become a theme for our own organization and a fundamental part of how we work alongside others to create sustainable ways of moving toward change. 
 

In the third blog in this three-part series, Project Director Lupe Poblano discusses the role of leaders in teams, and how shared leadership can help teams thrive. In Part 2 he explored team decision making, specifically, when and how teams should be used for decision making. In Part 1, he explored common definitions for teams and outlined the circumstances that help them function at their highest level.
 

In Part 2 of this three-part series on effective teams, Project Director Lupe Poblano explores team decision making, specifically, when and how teams should be used for decision making. In Part 1, he explored common definitions for teams and outlined the circumstances that help them function at their highest level.
 

At CompassPoint, we know that understanding how to work in a team is an indispensable part of leading with others. Working collaboratively helps organizations learn together, unearths new ideas, and can bring unheard voices to the table. Project Director Lupe Poblano explores teams in this new blog series. In Part 1, he explores common definitions for teams and outlines the circumstances that help them function at their highest level.
 

CompassPoint is a lab for new ideas, and we're always looking to feed our own thinking. We're a team of avid learners, so it's no surprise that in our search for the best leadership approaches to move us all closer to social equity, many of us have also become bookworms.
 

We’re excited to welcome our newest practice member Lupe Poblano to the CompassPoint fold – and we’re equally excited to share his first blog for us on the topic of inquiry and its importance as a leadership tool. Lupe joined our practice in early July, though the guidance in this post align with CompassPoint's leadership approach like he’s been on staff for years. He’s clearly at the right place.