Competitive Thinking Shortchanges Nonprofit Talents
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Is it hurting your career opportunities?
Competition can be seen as a good or a bad thing. Or a bad thing, if it is not seen as an opportunity.
Take, for example, the recent write-up by Commongood Careers (cgcareers.org), an employment agency dedicated to building on the spirit of socially responsible businesses and the creative job market. The actually tag their mission as an effort to get “Uncommon talent working for the common good” – a message that I absolutely love.
Their call to action motivated by various dynamics in the labor market of today:
For-Profit Competition: The nonprofit and for-profit sectors are rapidly converging, most notably through the rise of both social entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility. [A key understanding of VC.] Although these changes are resulting in exceptionally positive innovations throughout society, they are also bringing leaders from both sectors into direct competition for a limited pool of talented, socially conscious professionals. Unfortunately, in the ‘war for talent,’ nonprofits are poorly matched ….
But is this really the case? Or is it more the case that neither sector really understands the value of those whose careers grow out of the caring sector, and, as such, causes unhealthy competition for a few instead of healthy competition for folks who tend to play the game differently?
Tags: business, careers, competition, investing, nonprofit, socially responsible, value
