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If leading Gen Z has you second-guessing yourself, this episode is your reset.

Right now, five generations are working side by side. According to the World Economic Forum, the age span in today’s workforce has never been wider. Gen Z entered work during disruption, institutional mistrust, and rapid change—and that context matters.

Drawing on insights from Meg Jay’s The Defining Decade and research from Deloitte and Society for Human Resource Management, this episode reframes the tension:

Gen Z doesn’t need softer leadership. They need clearer leadership.

The issue isn’t entitlement. It’s unclear expectations.

You’ll learn how shared agreements—not generational exceptions—restore confidence, reduce friction, and help your team know what success actually looks like.

3 Key Takeaways

1. Most generational tension is an expectations gap.
When standards aren’t explicit, younger staff disengage—not because they don’t care, but because they don’t know how to win.

2. Frequent feedback equals clarity, not fragility.
Gen Z wants to know sooner if they’re off track.

3. Shared agreements rebuild your confidence.
When expectations are visible and consistent, you stop reacting and start leading again.

If this episode resonates, your next step may be resetting expectations—not lowering them.

Marcia Beckner helps nonprofit executives lead with confidence and create healthy, thriving workplace cultures, especially during times of growth and change.

After nearly 20 years in the nonprofit sector, she’s seen far too many talented, hard-working leaders burn out and walk away.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Nonprofit CEO SPARK is your invitation to pause, pivot, and reignite your energy so you can lead with clarity, courage, and balance.

Feeling exhausted and on the edge of burnout?

Grab my free guide - 4 Strategies for Nonprofit CEOs to Reduce Burnout, Unify Your Team & Build a Culture That Lasts. Go to https://culturecares.com/guide.

If this episode resonated, I invite you to join my Tuesday newsletter. Each week I share the podcast topic, practical leadership insights, and occasional special offers and event invitations designed to help you lead with clarity without burning out.

If you know another nonprofit leader who could use this support, please pass it along. And if you’d ever like to connect directly, you can reach me at https://culturecares.com.

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Culture is never neutral. It’s either strengthening your mission or quietly eroding it.

In this episode of Nonprofit CEO SPARK, Marcia Beckner sits down with Kelly Dunkin, President & CEO of Colorado Gives Foundation, to unpack what it really takes to build a high-performing, inclusive culture that delivers measurable results.

Under Kelly’s leadership, Colorado Gives Day generated $56.5 million for 4,600 nonprofits—in a year when many organizations were navigating funding uncertainty and sector-wide stress.

The secret isn’t hustle. It’s alignment.

Kelly shares how an intentional focus on culture—supported by clear agreements, defined values, and an 85% retention benchmark—has shaped hiring decisions, leadership behavior, and long-term performance.

This conversation is both strategic and deeply human.

You’ll hear lessons on letting go of defensiveness, building staff-led culture systems, and why retention is one of the most overlooked leadership metrics in the nonprofit sector.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why an 85% retention goal can transform how you hire, develop, and retain top talent
• How to use monthly pulse surveys and inclusion metrics to keep a real-time culture scorecard
• A simple, no-cost way to gather meaningful staff input and begin strengthening trust
• What it looks like to “go slow to go fast” when building sustainable fundraising momentum
• How to stop taking feedback personally and lead with curiosity instead

If you’re leading a team of 10–100 paid staff and want stronger alignment, better morale, and results that don’t depend on burnout, this episode is your roadmap.

Ready to reset your leadership? Learn more about Marcia’s Burnout to Boundaries Strategy Session at CultureCARES.com.

Marcia Beckner helps nonprofit executives lead with confidence and create healthy, thriving workplace cultures, especially during times of growth and change.

After nearly 20 years in the nonprofit sector, she’s seen far too many talented, hard-working leaders burn out and walk away.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Nonprofit CEO SPARK is your invitation to pause, pivot, and reignite your energy so you can lead with clarity, courage, and balance.

Feeling exhausted and on the edge of burnout?

Grab my free guide - 4 Strategies for Nonprofit CEOs to Reduce Burnout, Unify Your Team & Build a Culture That Lasts. Go to https://culturecares.com/guide.

If this episode resonated, I invite you to join my Tuesday newsletter. Each week I share the podcast topic, practical leadership insights, and occasional special offers and event invitations designed to help you lead with clarity without burning out.

If you know another nonprofit leader who could use this support, please pass it along. And if you’d ever like to connect directly, you can reach me at https://culturecares.com.

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What do you do when you’re responsible… but not really in charge?

Before I ever coached nonprofit leaders or facilitated culture transformation initiatives, I learned some of my most important leadership lessons at 30,000 feet—as an American Airlines flight attendant in my 20s.

And one late-night flight out of Chicago made it unmistakably clear.

In this episode, I share the true story of an emergency landing—and why, in moments of uncertainty, people don’t look to titles or authority. They look to presence. Reaction. Stability.

If you’ve ever walked into a tense board meeting, managed staff anxiety during funding uncertainty, or felt everyone’s eyes on you waiting for cues, this episode is for you.

We talk about:

• Why calm is the job in leadership
• How systems beat heroics every time
• What it really means to lead without authority or control
• Why burnout isn’t just personal—it’s a leadership risk

This isn’t about knowing all the answers. It’s about protocols in high-stakes situations, credibility under pressure, and staying grounded when it matters most.

Listen now and grab this week’s Spark Plug Shift for your next hard conversation.

Marcia Beckner helps nonprofit executives lead with confidence and create healthy, thriving workplace cultures, especially during times of growth and change.

After nearly 20 years in the nonprofit sector, she’s seen far too many talented, hard-working leaders burn out and walk away.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Nonprofit CEO SPARK is your invitation to pause, pivot, and reignite your energy so you can lead with clarity, courage, and balance.

Feeling exhausted and on the edge of burnout?

Grab my free guide - 4 Strategies for Nonprofit CEOs to Reduce Burnout, Unify Your Team & Build a Culture That Lasts. Go to https://culturecares.com/guide.

If this episode resonated, I invite you to join my Tuesday newsletter. Each week I share the podcast topic, practical leadership insights, and occasional special offers and event invitations designed to help you lead with clarity without burning out.

If you know another nonprofit leader who could use this support, please pass it along. And if you’d ever like to connect directly, you can reach me at https://culturecares.com.