The Executive Circle is an essential part of my professional and personal life. Through it, I have met wise, warm people from a wide array of non-profit organizations, and we’ve forged true bonds. In Executive Circle our conversations are meaningful and memorable: we share experiences that enable each other to consider challenges and opportunities from varied perspectives; we discuss topics that seem only possible to share with other organizational leaders. I leave each retreat feeling energized, optimistic, and heard. And between our retreats, I never for a minute hesitate to reach out to the other members for advice or support when I need it. Leadership can be very lonely, and our individual fields can be competitive. Executive Circle is exactly the ‘safe space’ that we all need, but rarely find, and I have huge admiration for the way in which Heather and Trish have brought us together, blending personalities, backgrounds, life perspectives, and passions.
I am so thankful that Heather reached out to me last year and invited me to “Executive Circle,” and even happier that I said “yes.” That was one of my better decisions last year!
The shared wisdom and bonded cohort experience provided by Executive Circle is especially compelling. Coaches Heather Kaye and Terrie Lupberger offer skilled, thoughtful facilitation of the meaty topics facing today’s non-profit leaders. The program is one of my most valued leadership resources!
My time with Heather Kaye and Invision has been an amazing experience. You should expect to develop close connections with your colleagues, to gain key insights into the leadership challenges we face, and to feel support and collaboration to make positive changes. It is an opportunity to join, learn, and grow personally and professionally.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the friendship and thought partnership that I have found through Executive Circle, especially during this time of COVID. It is refreshing to be with passionate, skilled leaders who face many of the same challenges as I do as a leader and are equally committed to our missions. Plus, we have a lot of fun together.
Through Executive Circle, I am growing as a person and leader in ways that directly benefit our patients, our employees, and our community at large. For me, that growth is taking place at the intersection of head, heart and soul. Why? Because today’s leadership challenges are all about establishing a clear vision, communicating that vision over and over again, living a set of core values every day in word and deed, and developing a followership of talented individuals who will be next generation leaders. This leadership approach fuels our organization’s ability and capacity to navigate major societal change due to health care reform, the local impact of economic redevelopment, and the continued march towards equality for all in our community. I would strongly recommend the Executive Circle to any nonprofit leader who wants to truly move their nonprofit organization forward through personal and professional reflection and the power of one’s emotional intelligence.
I joined Executive Circle in 2013 while in my fourth year as the executive director of N Street Village, a nonprofit housing and social service provider in Washington DC. What I hoped and expected to receive from participation in Executive Circle was camaraderie and support in exploring and managing the challenges of a modern nonprofit and opportunities to develop my own skills as a leader. What I found at Executive Circle exceeded these expectations. In the company of this diverse and energetic group of leaders, I found a breeding ground for new thinking and fresh ideas, and a mutual enthusiasm for challenging ourselves and our sector to embrace change and growth in the service of advancing our critical missions. I have loved this group and the opportunity it has presented for all of us to grow and be renewed in our leadership, both individually and collectively.
My board chair encouraged me to find a program or group to help me grow as a leader. I took some time to explore options and opportunities and when I found Executive Circle, I knew I had more than the right program, I found a home. While the facilitation and coaching by Heather and Trish is superb, Executive Circle is much more than simply gathering for a shared learning, it is a community. I have come to cherish the time with my colleagues as an oasis in which I find nourishment for the mind as well as the soul. I leave each gathering – or interim conversation with a fellow leader – refreshed, inspired and invigorated. Being able to speak candidly with the group is an incredible gift that cannot be found elsewhere. As individuals and collectively, they have helped me frame issues and solutions that benefit my board, organization and me.
My experience in Executive Circle has contributed in important ways to my personal and professional development as a seasoned leader. Work done in the center of benefitting the public good is often complex given the multitude of stakeholders that executives must engage to move their organizations forward. Grateful that I have had an opportunity to meet and learn from many equally talented leaders across our region.
If I’ve learned one thing in my years of leading nonprofits, it is that relationships matter. Some of my strongest relationships and my most reliable and candid support has come from participating in the Executive Circle. It’s structure is built on fostering and deepening strong relationships that move me forward personally and professionally. The Executive Circle is my first priority when it comes to my professional development throughout the year.
Executive Circle is THE place where I feel understood, challenged, and supported as a nonprofit leader. Having peers with diverse backgrounds and skills from across multiple nonprofit disciplines has provided me tremendous insight and awareness into my own leadership and potential. I recommend Executive Circle to any nonprofit leader looking to experience the same.
Over the past four years Executive Circle has supported my growth as a leader. Our meetings provide a space for conversations which challenge and stretch my thinking. Our two-day retreats are restorative and the issues we discuss reflect challenges I face as a leader. Heather and Terri have a clear grasp of the needs of nonprofit leaders.
Executive Circle has contributed immeasurably to my own leadership development. Each session contributes to my understanding of my own leadership and by extension, my ability to coach my senior team to strengthen their own understanding. Every session has provided concrete tools or concepts that I have brought back to my organization. Executive Circle is a unique opportunity for CEOs and Executive Directors to share in a trusting and intimate setting and get support—so very crucial as we confront the multiple stressors that are ubiquitous to our positions. One of the things I have really enjoyed is getting to know EDs from other sectors and to learn about how they confront challenges in those sectors. It is so refreshing to step outside my bubble.
Executive Circle has given me the opportunity to regularly interact with leaders in the nonprofit community whose experience and wisdom help me be a better leader of my own organization. We have had interesting, tough and open discussions about issues that affect all of us. I can’t imagine another setting where I could have these candid conversations. Every day I’m appreciative of this group for being available if I need advice, for the ongoing support we provide to each other, and to Executive Circle for bringing us together.
I have been a part of Executive Circle for six years now, and it has been the best investment I have made in my personal leadership development in years. The group is confidential and the peer support and facilitated discussions are amazing.
During my experience with the Executive Circle, I have met incredibly talented and thoughtful leaders for the nonprofit sector. These relationships and the venue that the Executive Circle provides me are invaluable and will help align and even amplify our voice as a sector in the Greater Washington DC area. I would recommend the Executive Circle program to other executives to help build deep friendships and relationships with other nonprofit leaders in the sector but also the program enables and allows us to set a vision for the nonprofit sector and think through key strategies to help us achieve our vision.
Being a part of the Executive Circle has provided some of the best learning and support that I have received in my decades of being an Executive Director. The benefits derive from the excellent facilitation and guidance provided as well as the creation of space for learning and sharing with other remarkable non-profit leaders. It has deepened my capacity to provide effective leadership in my organization and recommend it highly.