Lessons From A Ukrainian Non-Profit #2

WE ARE ALL MORE THAN OUR RESUMES

At a recent conference a speaker suggested that resumes typically describe work experience but fall far short of capturing a complete picture of our skills.  Executives are often engaged in much more than their paid jobs.

This has been the case for me too.  For the last several years, in addition to launching a consulting business and holding a full-time corporate position, I have been the President of the Ukrainian Culture Center of Los Angeles (UCCLA).  I am the first female President of this 80 year old organization and have seen the organization through 2 crises now – COVID-19 and the russian invasion of Ukraine.

Along the way I have learned a great deal.  Today’s post is the second of a multi-part series of posts in which I will share the key lessons I have learned, the mistakes I made and where my financial planning and analysis skillset served me in responding to russia’s invasion of a sovereign country.  In the spirit of “making my mess my message” I hope these you find these insights useful.

LESSON 2: HOW TO LISTEN

Most executives who have had leadership coaching are attuned to the idea that listening is often more important than speaking.  When russia invaded Ukraine, I had to take my listening skills to a new level.  This means that I had to not only listen but start listening for INTENT.

Once a crisis breaks people (mostly strangers) start coming at you from all directions.  In this particular crisis I was talking to hundreds of new people in a matter of about 10 days.  These individuals spanned the spectrum from government leadership to the press to distraught families desperately trying to reach loved ones.  There was also a group of people who fall into the general category of “wanting to help Ukraine”.  Pushing the strangers I met through the filter of intent (which invariably means building a lot of skepticism into your thought process) allowed me to make better choices about who to engage with and more importantly, who not to. 

Here are some examples:

1. Offers to Deliver Arms to Ukraine: I personally received several phone calls from people I did not know who passionately expressed their desire to support Ukraine.  One person in particular was offering to deliver ammunition to Ukrainian soldiers.  The concept was that the ammunition would be accessed through key Israeli military contacts who were positioned to get these desperately needed munitions to the front.  The Intent: Clearly this was an offer to engage in illegal arms sales.  Though the opportunity to help Ukraine in this way had some merit, clearly the intention here was not in a sphere that the Ukrainian Culture Center or I should be operating in.
2. Marketing of Generator Sales: As the bombing of Ukraine increased, russia began targeting key elements of Ukraine’s infrastructure including power generation.  UCCLA received many phone calls offering generator sales and shipment to Ukraine.  Again, this was under the guise of “wanting to help”.  The Intent: After thorough questioning and analysis I was able to determine that this was an inventory problem that the company was trying to correct.  Helping Ukraine was not the primary driver.
3. Donations of Personal Goods:  There were a lot of well-meaning people who wanted to do something, anything to help Ukraine.  UCCLA often had offers from individuals to donate clothing.  The challenge we had was to distinguish between people who were cleaning out their closets versus those who were genuinely targeting the needs of the front-line military personnel.  Ukraine is a developed country and for the most part the people there are not in need of used clothing.  Moreover, the shipping costs from the United States made it unreasonable to send the items.  When you add to that, that there is nothing we have here which cannot be accessed in Europe, we had to turn a lot of these gifts away.  The Intent: Thoroughly listening for the intention of the donation (cleaning house versus buying/bringing need appropriate items) allowed us to make sure the front was truly getting items they needed – insoles for their boots, water resistant socks, and warm outer and inner clothing for the winter defense.
4. “Fundraisers”: The invasion of Ukraine let to an explosion of non-profits around the world.  Almost none of them had any infrastructure like that of the Ukrainian Culture Center of Los Angeles.  Because of that, we had an extraordinarily high volume of requests for use of the center for fundraising.  This led to the development of a very strict vetting process of who these organizations were and most importantly whether they were truly aligned with the war effort or whether it was a means to an end for the non-profit’s existence.  The Intent: By designing a careful questioning process and leveraging the Ukrainian network (which was LinkedIn before there was a LinkedIn), we were able to identify people who were actually russian as well as people who were trying to make a career out of the war.

These are but a few examples of how not only listening but listening for intent made a tremendous difference in UCCLA’s decision making.  I am not saying we didn’t make mistakes sometimes, but this orientation led to better outcomes.

When it comes to FP&A, listening and listening for intent is probably as important a skill as navigating your way around the financial statements.  It comes into play especially when listening to your leaders discuss how they want to tell the story of their business on a road show for investors on Wall Street or the board of directors.  With this type of attuned listening skill, FP&A professionals can really align with how the leadership team wants to grow.  That’s where I can help.

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