Episode 25 – Be Passionate About What You Do

 

According to American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC) research, identifying the right benchmarks and sources is the #1 challenge to effective benchmarking. A great source to consider for benchmarking culture, employee engagement, and collaborative leadership is in the non-profit sector.   

Rod and Brian interview Julie Fleshman, President and CEO of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN). Julie shares lessons learned over the past 20+ years in leading this small start-up to nearly a $60M organization today. She also shares how effective collaboration has brought together an international group of more than 100 pancreatic cancer organizations representing 38 countries, 60 affiliates in the United States, and a continually expanding community of hundreds of pancreatic cancer thought leaders across the globe.

The challenge is great. Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers. It currently is the 3rd leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S. and has the lowest five-year survival rate for cancers at just 13%. 

 

Whiteboard Notes:

 

Reflection Questions:

  1. PanCAN’s mission is to “take bold action to improve the lives of everyone impacted by pancreatic cancer by advancing scientific research, building community, sharing knowledge, and advocating for patients.”  Does your organization’s mission statement act as a powerful driver that informs every aspect of your organization on your purpose as well as inspires, unifies, and engages high performance?
  2. Julie indicated that one of their five core values – Sparkle Spirit – is the essence of PanCAN that makes it special and unique. She defined it as the “unrelenting determination and commitment to a very hard and difficult challenge”. What core values and the expected behaviors they set make your organization special and unique – differentiate it?
  3. Julie shared that they must do things differently to accelerate patient progress – we must keep changing. How does your organization’s culture inspire employees to accelerate progress for your customers and clients?
  4. At PanCAN, collaboration is about acknowledging that “We can’t do this alone.” Where do you see this attitude and behavior exhibited in your organization? Inconsistently shown? What would impact your organization if your culture reinforced a stronger desire to “work together”?