Leaders of the Future Must have Different Skills

It is time for baby boomers to face the fact that our time is running out in the work force. Unless, we plan to work until we are 80, then our years are dwindling quickly and, sooner than later, we will be gone. You might ask, “so what?” and that is precisely why I write this.

I believe there is going to be a gaping hole between current leadership in the philanthropic world and the next group of leaders. Why? Because we don’t really have a plan in place to truly prepare the next group of leaders, and the skills and abilities needed for the next generation of leaders is going to be vastly different than those we exercise today.

Reflecting on when I first started with the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina back in the mid-90s, I think about how we only had one computer in the entire office and it belonged to the secretary. Everything was copied and filed manually. We still used an electric typewriter for goodness sakes! We transformed in the past 15 years and will continue to evolve in the next 15 years with new and innovative ways to operate. Information technology, communications, social media, etc. is at an accelerated pace.

Information technology will be the single most important force that will drive philanthropy over the next two decades. I think about the goals of the Sisters of Charity Foundation in the coming years. We will utilize technology to teach and train hundreds more nonprofit practitioners than ever before. We will communicate and inform through mediums that have not be used before. We will report and share findings in exciting new ways. We will be able to take the Foundation office with us no matter where we go. Everything will be a click away.

The next generation leaders must be willing and able to embrace this reality and treat it as an opportunity. We have a chance to make philanthropy more efficient, more informative and with better and more definable results. This may also change staffing patterns and the role of staff. Our future leaders will be able to utilize new tools and analyze old methods to improve the organization’s overall effectiveness both internally and externally. There is no prescriptive CEO manual that we can hand to the next generation of leaders. It is not available and it shouldn’t be. To me, it will come down to a select group of people that are high energy yet compassionate, mission-driven, flexible, innovative and technologically savvy.

People are at the heart of our work in philanthropy and that should never change. However, doing business in 2025 is going to be a whole new ballgame. I hope I am still alive to see these leaders in action. It will be as invigorating and exciting as anything you could ever imagine and I think the opportunities are endless. Oh, if only I was age 35 again!

Tom Keith is the president of the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina