The Perils of Nice

By Nell Edgington

I have a new post up on the Change.org Social Entrepreneurship blog called “The Perils of Nice.” Here is an excerpt:

The nonprofit sector often suffers from a propensity toward niceness. Indeed, according to a recent study by researchers at Stanford and two other business schools, nonprofits are perceived as “warm, generous and caring organizations, but lacking the competence to produce high-quality goods or services and run financially sound businesses.” In other words, we think they are nice — but not competent. But this perception stems from a reality that is often imposed on the sector. Nonprofits are encouraged to collaborate instead of compete, hold onto under-performing staff, accept martyr-like salaries, smile and nod when funders push them in tangential directions and keep quiet when government programs want the same services at a lower price…But in order to innovate and work toward real solutions, in order to get out from under consensus-based mediocrity, nonprofits need to break free from the niceness trap. They need to get meaner, uglier, messier…

Related posts:

1. The Perils of Nice

Tags: Change.org Social Entrepreneurship blog, Stanford

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