Wendy Steele Explained the What, But Not the Why as Her Non-Profit Grew Quickly

<p><a href="https://markgraban.com/mistake208" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Episode page with transcript, video, and more</a></p> <p>My guest for Episode #208 of the <a href="https://myfavoritemistakepodcast.com/">My Favorite Mistake</a> podcast is <a href="https://wendyhsteele.com/">Wendy H. Steele</a>, the founder and CEO of <a href="https://impact100global.org/">Impact100</a>, a global nonprofit organization dedicated to uniting and empowering over 30,000 women to create a transformational impact in their communities has today collectively granted more than $123 million to worthy nonprofits across more than 65 local chapters and four countries.</p> <p>Wendy&#39;s debut book, <a href="https://amzn.to/3LkEjaB">Invitation to Impact: Lighting the Path to Community Transformation</a><em>, </em>was released in April 2023.</p> <p>Wendy brings the ideal combination of corporate leadership (SVP/Regional Manager in the banking industry), entrepreneurship (Successfully launched and led both non-profit and for-profit enterprises), and civic engagement resulting in keen business acumen and thought leadership. </p> <p>In this episode, Wendy shares her favorite mistake story about starting up her nonprofit and explaining what it did, but not <em>why</em> it existed. How did she come to see this problem and how did it affect the organization as it grew nationally? And how did Wendy adjust?</p> <p>We also discuss some of her previous experience as a founder and CEO of a company that manufactured an innovative duct tape dispenser. How do we make sure we&#39;re moving the needle on results in a business or a non-profit?</p> <ul> <li>Assumed the why was obvious…</li> <li>What was the what?? To help women get involved in their community on their terms… thought it was designed for women in Cincinnati</li> <li>The leadership team understood the why at launch</li> <li>How did you realize people didn’t understand the WHY? It took a while</li> <li>What got off track? How did you adjust?</li> <li>How would you articu