You've Gotta Have Heart

Book excerpt: We all know that the definition for success in the corporate world is fairly straightforward. To be considered great, companies first need to turn a profit. For organizations in the social sector, however, the challenge is much bigger. To be truly effective, they must stay relevant and, above all, stay true to their mission. For the past thirty-five years, Cass Wheeler has ensured that the American Heart Association has fulfilled its calling to save lives and educate the public about heart disease by adopting some of the same strategies used in the for-profit sector. In You’ve Gotta Have Heart, he shows people at all levels of a nonprofit how to make sure their hard work really pays off. Using examples of some of the American Heart Association and others, Wheeler reveals the leadership skills that will help employees, volunteers, and board members excel at their jobs, become good role models, and build a more visionary, creative, and disciplined nonprofit organization. Readers will discover: why a mission statement is not the same as a sense of mission • the characteristics of successful nonprofit leaders • how to combine the nonprofit mission with the management lessons of the business world • how to define an organization’s core values and business model Filled with honest, practical, and thoughtful lessons from the author’s own experience, this book will ensure that nonprofits of every size continue to do great and be great.