This conversation goes beyond leadership theory and gets real about what it takes to lead mission‑driven organizations through uncertainty. Andy Nelson candidly shares how values‑based leadership, humility, and calculated risk‑taking can fuel innovation, even in times of scarcity. From scaling nonprofits responsibly to empowering teams through trust and distributed decision‑making, this episode is a must‑watch for leaders who want to create impact and build resilient organizations without losing sight of the people they serve.
I wanted to be doing something that filled in the gaps for people who didn’t have those resources in their lives, and that’s become a theme for me ever since. – Andy Nelson
Suzanne Hanifin: President at Acumen Executive Search. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzannehanifin/
Tanis Morris: Business Development at Acumen Executive Search. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanis-morris-75a113266/
Andy Nelson’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-nelson-34aa321/
Ride Connection’s Website: https://rideconnection.org/
Acumen Executive Search Website: https://www.acumenexecutivesearch.com/
Ride Connection Website: https://rideconnection.org/
Hiring for Good Transcript
Suzanne Hanifin: Well, hi there. I am Suzanne Hanifin with Acumen Executive Search, and once again I am with my lovely co-host, Tanis Morris.
Tanis Morris: Hello, Suzanne.
Suzanne: Hello. And we are excited today to have Andy Nelson with us at our Hiring for Good podcast, which, you know, is a podcast on leaderships and lessons learned. So, welcome, Andy.
Andy Nelson: Psyched to be here.
Suzanne: Yes. So, Andy is the new Ride Connection CEO. Ride Connection provides access-responsive transportation alternatives in Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties.
What makes Ride Connection such an amazing organization is their ability to innovate and to pivot. They see holes in services and are daring enough to find the solutions.
Prior to Ride Connection, Andy spent the previous 10 years with Impact Northwest, a social services nonprofit providing housing, education, senior care, and early childhood services in the Portland metro area.
As the landscape continues to change, innovation becomes more critical to nonprofits. We are hoping that Andy will share his leadership journey and how Ride Connection, and through his leadership, are shaping the transportation conversation and innovation in Oregon.
So again, super excited, Andy.
Andy: Thank you, Suzanne.
Suzanne: I’m going to turn this conversation over to you….
Andy: Right.
Suzanne: To really kind of walk us through this journey and how you became the CEO of Ride Connection now.
Andy: Yeah. How did I end up here?
Suzanne: Yeah!
Andy: That’s the, that’s the question. I think everybody, uh, probably at some point stops on the mountain and says, “How did I get here?”
Suzanne: Yes.
Andy: And like a lot of us, I didn’t really take the trail, you know. I kind of, kind of worked my way, my own way up. And, um, you know, I think for me, I think about how I, I got where I am. And, you know, it’s a, it’s a some, some luck and some good fortune, but there were moments of clarity when I made some purposeful decisions.
Thinking even back to my first job out of high school, uh, or out of college actually, where I was a newspaper reporter for five years. Super cool way to learn about your community and learn about stuff. What I learned was that wasn’t for me.
Suzanne: Isn’t that funny?
Tanis: Was that your plan? Oh, I’m sorry.
Andy: Yeah. Well, I didn’t really have a plan, right? So, I I I had done the college paper in, I, paper in college. Super interesting. Our college president had resigned with a scandal. So, good news stuff. And I kind of got a bug for that.
And five years out, in fact, I remember this distinctly. I was at a new homeless shelter in East Hartford, Connecticut. I grew up in the Hartford area, Hartford, Springfield, Mass area. And that was noteworthy. It’s the late ’80s. That was noteworthy because this first time a homeless shelter had opened up in like a suburban area.
Um, you’d seen, you would see shelters were sort of new then. Can you imagine that? It was like a new idea. And I was there. I was, um, I show up on a Tuesday, sort of dark. There’s, um, six or seven guys waiting to get in, and here comes this young Vista volunteer who’s running this place by herself.
And I introduce myself, and I’m thinking this is great. It’s going to be a great story. Uh, I’m going to shed a light on a social issue I think is kind of interesting, you know. Also, like, not surprising. I was interested in that kind of stuff. Uh, and her response was, “You need to get out of here because if these guys talk to you, they’re not gonna come back.”
And I’m so I go back to my car, and I’m like, “Wow.” Like, I, that was, that really, like, stopped me in my tracks.
Anyway, one thing led to another. I made this really intentional decision that, you know, I need to be, I need to be doing something. Not that being a newspaper reporter isn’t doing something, but I wanted, I knew enough for myself that I wanted to be like, like, like what she was doing. Uh, making a difference, filling in the gaps for people who didn’t have those resource, resources in their life.
And that just has become a theme for me. I mean, this is almost 40 years ago, I think about it. And, um, yeah.
And then another big decision I made was I got tired of living in the Harford/Springfield area. I guess everyone sees the grass is greener from their hometown, right? So, literally, you know, threw a, a dart at a map, and it was Portland, Oregon. Showed up here 30 years ago.
It wasn’t entirely by happen chance. You know, this was a city that my perception worked. We had some things like transit that were really happening, that was a little more, um, interest in the greater good and in building a, a community that worked for most people. So, I was really drawn by that.
And, um, I’ve had a number of great opportunities to contribute. Um, really fortunate. I feel like this is a, a city where you can kind of show up and if you’re willing to dive in, you can, you can find purpose and meaning here.
Tanis: Well, hang on because I’m curious. So, you were a reporter.
Andy: Right.
Tanis: And, and then, you know, that really spoke to you when you were like, “Wow, I’m here to get a story, and she’s thinking about….
Andy: Yeah!
Tanis: These people’s, like, emotional well-being,”….
Andy: Right.
Tanis: And you know that….
Andy: Right, right.
Tanis: That did something to your heart.
When you came to Portland, were you already working in nonprofit?
Andy: Yeah, I had made the transition, but just a little recently before that. So I, I, I sort of decided I just needed to go cold turkey and get a master’s in social work.
Tanis: Ah!
Andy: Uh, and I did that and, you know, kind of worked. And, um, I was actually, uh, my, the job I had, I was stationed at a child center working with the parents. So I was like a parent organizer, which was super cool.
I just, back before I had kids and really knew anything about it. Here I am like, you know, uh, organizing parents who knew nothing about parenting. It was a, um, low-income neighborhood in Hartford. Super exciting. I learned so much.
And so I had, I was in the game a bit and came here and, and, uh, it just fell into more of the administrative side of things. I think that was more of a, a match for my skill set and my experiences.
Suzanne: Yeah. And so once you did the plunge, and you jumped into the world of nonprofit, how did you go from being that coordinator into that leadership position, and what were kind of the steps that really were pivotable in, in getting you to where you are?
Andy: Yeah, great question, Suzanne. And I think about all the mistakes I made. That’s where I go.
Suzanne: We all have.
Tanis: That’s how you learn.
Andy: I go, right. But I think I always had a drive, you know, and I always had a, I was here intentionally, and I really wanted to, to make a difference. So, I found myself with organizations, well-meaning organizations, um, had a lot of good things going on, but I think what I was able to do was help them. Uh, initially was raising money. That’s how, kind of how I cut my teeth. And nonprofits still do that. It’s all part of it.
Um, but, but thought about more about, like, hey, what’s the impact we’re having? What’s the strategy? How are we different? Sometimes it’s super hard to differentiate. Well, any business, right? And, um, and these, these business problems came up, and I found I was interested in those and dove into them. And I found that that was appreciated, that it was there was some interest in that.
And then in the early aughts I had a chance to, uh, go to a startup called Hands-On Portland. This was right after 9/11, really different time. Um, but there was a huge ethos about giving back in response to what had happened. Um, millions of Americans were interested in giving back in their backyard, in their own community.
So, we in Portland, of course, uh, a chapter popped up, Hands-On Portland, modeled after Hands-On Atlanta. Super successful, really exciting time. Um, there was, you know, 20 of us in the nation. We were doing a similar thing. We’re sort of galvanizing this ethos of service.
That was super exciting. That really got me into nonprofit management and leadership. And we were just a brand new organization. You know, I think the year I started, we had, you know, $90,000 of income and hundred thou and $80,000 of expenses. So, you know, going the wrong direction.
Uh, and so you learn quickly what it takes to create a sustainable organization at that point.
Suzanne: Well, and jump ahead because I think this is where it gets really interesting. For people who don’t know, Ride Connection is about a $90 million….
Andy: Right.
Suzanne: Nonprofit. It started off as a spin-off from Tri-Met.
Andy: That’s right. That’s right.
Suzanne: Or Tri-Met services.
Andy: Yeah.
Suzanne: But it has really grown into its own organization.
But before we dive into that, I kind of wanted to get your sense of the, um, ecosystem of nonprofits today.
Andy: Right.
Suzanne: Both on a national basis and on a local basis because it, it’s changing, especially with our current administration.
Andy: Yeah, it’s a tough time. There’s some serious headwinds. Uh, whether or not a nonprofit gets federal funds, that dictates, in many ways that federal funding how the industry is going to do.
Suzanne: But even if they don’t, a lot of the county states….
Andy: Oh yeah.
Suzanne: Who then distribute the money to them. So either directly or indirectly.
Andy: Right. Whether or not you get direct funding, what’s happening in DC is going to really impact the industry. And it’s, and it’s, it’s massive right now. There’s just chaos, as you know. There’s fear and anxiety. There’s real money being cut. There’s nonprofits that part of this community, and this is probably the case in every major metro area; they’re really on the verge of going out of business.
And to your point, Suzanne, that is really, it’s a really imperative that we see more consolidation, probably. And like what we’ve done at Ride Connection is we think outside of the box about how we can create a sustainable business model. We can deliver on our core mission, but also begin to operate in areas that serve the mission and serve the organization at the same time.
Um, yeah, it’s, it’s, uh, it’s some serious headwinds out there right now.
Suzanne: Oh, absolutely. And so, as you were sharing your background and you did talk about some formative experiences.
Andy: Right.
Suzanne: But, you know, of shaping who you are as a leader today, can you share with us some of the stories?
Andy: Yeah, thanks for that. And, uh, gosh, I remember like three or three years after having started at, at Hands-On. I mentioned we had a year where we were in the hole, 90 grand, right? So here we are. We’re finally successful. We’re in the black. We’re making money. We’re, um, it’s working. People are showing up to volunteer. We’ve got, um, we’ve got fundraising happening.
Everybody in the office, though, is upset. Uh, it was, you know, bewildering to me at the time, not in retrospect. What do I realize, though, is, um, while I had those things going on, I hadn’t really put any effort into creating an organization and really that people side of things.
I always think that when it comes to running a business, it’s what’s your strategy, how are your operations, and how are your people? And I took for granted that those folks were going to be okay. It’s like, hey, what’s the problem? We’re doing well.
Well, the problem was they had a different relationship with that, that organization and what their needs were. And I was somewhat blind to that. And that was a huge wake-up call for me. I mean, we had, we had infighting. We had folks who were feeling, uh, overlooked, uh, who just weren’t engaged.
And so, um, yeah, I remember that was a look in the mirror moment of saying I’ve got to step up and I’ve got to be a different kind of leader now. I can’t just be the startup guy if this organization is going to hang around. You know, we’ve got to be a real leader of people as well.
Tanis: So I, I’m so interested by this because, um, I think that you’re giving voice to something that, you know, early, like entrepreneurs and early business leaders face, which is, you know, just getting the company fiscally viable but, but then, you know, when you look in the mirror and realize like, here’s this gap, how, how do you like support your own personal development as, you’re already the head guy. Like, you know, like do you mind talking about that? That is so formative and so, and it’s….
Andy: Absolutely.
Tanis: Tricky thing to navigate.
Andy: No, great question, right? And so I had to get help, you know. At least I had the, the self-awareness to say that I don’t really know how to do this.
So fortunately, I found some really great help. I found, um, a small firm, uh, really anchored by this pretty amazing consultant who came in and really helped me understand what it meant to be a leader and then helped our whole organization really, um, differentiate who we were, what we brought to the table, and what we were looking for and what our values were.
Values are huge. And I’m not talking about like vague things like community and innovation, like really getting down on that. What do we really stand for? What are our non-negotiables?
I mean, this kind of conversations we had had, like you’re saying, like it’s typical startup stuff. If you want to be sustainable, you got to know who you are. What’s your DNA? What’s going to make you last?
And, and that, those are painful lessons. Um, but I’m, I’m glad at least I had the, the moment of realization that I needed, I needed help with that. I needed to bring somebody in.
And, you know, here I am now. I’m still using some of those lessons, right? Every organization on some level has those same strains between, um, the balance sheet and the people and how we’re actually delivering, uh, on our mission. And I’m still using some of those lessons from, you know, 30 years ago.
Tanis: You mind giving voice to what some of them were? Like, you, you spoke about you need to take care of your people, but what more specifically were the lessons?
Andy: Yeah, I think a big one is, and I know that you hear this a lot and know you both embody this, is that leaders, you know, we can buy into the hype that as leaders we’re supposed to be the uh, the powerful, all-knowing entities who, who, um, who are the heroes of our organization, who make those decisions. That’s why we’re there, because we know more than everyone else.
That’s completely false, and that’s a paradigm that I’ve been working to turn on its head. This idea of distributive leadership. It’s where it’s all about, and that’s exactly what we’re doing right now at Ride Connection.
You know, the people that should be making decisions are often the people closest to the issue. For example, um, we have choices in terms of where we provide service, what service lines we have. Is that my decision? Well, I suppose you could look at it that way, but I think it’s the people who are closest to that work every day.
My job is to create the conditions for their success. That sounds super vague, but, um, what that means to me is, being again, goes back to really being clear on, like, what do we value, everybody? Like, what’s important to us? And reminding them that over and over and over. And also making them aware of, like, what are we, where are we going? What is, um, where is this organization headed? And who are we?
One of the things I like to say is that we move people like no one else. And that has like kind of a double meaning. We do that literally. We provide these specialized transportations, but there’s an emotional component to that. This is not a transactional experience. This is not just a ride from point A to point B. You’re riding with a person, and if you’re the driver, there’s a person in your vehicle and you have a kind of connection relationship with them.
That’s the kind of rocket fuel that’s someone intangible that really is going to make us go.
Suzanne: Yeah, and listening to you, and I’m going to bring up values in a minute, but I wanted to share this with you. And I want to say it’s been going on for seven years now, and the number one trait of a good leader, according to Harvard Business, is humility. And, and it’s been, again, the number one of employees like to work with leaders that are humble.
And, and I think that was a huge learning for me too.
Andy: Yeah.
Suzanne: Is asking for help.
Andy: Right!
Suzanne: And saying, “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Andy: And are people going to notice that? And are they going to think less of me because I’m because I don’t know what I’m doing?
Suzanne: And it’s our insecurity.
Andy: Right.
Suzanne: And also being told a strong leader is, you know, like almost untouchable.
Andy: Stoic.
Suzanne: Is stoic and….
Andy: All-knowing. Come on. Who’s that?
Suzanne: Yeah. And, and so, again, knowing that humility is really where you come, you know, place that you come at, um, in leadership, what other values as you grow and shape an organization that you really operationalize, and how have you operationalized those values?
Andy: Yeah, I think it’s such a great question. And I think really, um, similar to that is this idea of gratitude. Like, don’t take anything for granted. Like, you know, I really appreciate where we are, and I can see the path we’ve been on, even myself personally. Um, that goes a long way, cuz I think that the other side of that is like expectation, that, oh yeah, you know, this is how it should be.
But it’s like, no. It’s just one day at a time. Gratitude for that success we’ve had, those choices we made, even those mistakes we made that we learn from. Uh, that’s a big one.
And I think for me, like going back to those, those days when I was a reporter, I was just gravitating to articles about like things that were important for most people, the common good. That’s a really important value to me.
I think there’s, there’s plenty of money and in this country. Um, people can be fabulously wealthy. We can still meet the basic needs of everyone. And that’s always driven me, and I’ve always been driven to causes that do that.
And that’s what Ride Connection does. It’s less known. This idea of mobility isn’t as well-known as where I was before. The idea of housing insecurity is more well known. But, um, this idea that we can all win. We can all, and I think I take that into my management structure too, and in, in the places that I’ve led, is that we can all be successful. We can all meet, or get our needs met, even if they’re different, if we just look at the world in terms of being abundant and not scarce.
And that’s, that’s a paradigm breaker too, right? Because we get so many messages about the scarcity of resources and the competition.
Suzanne: Well, and, and I think that’s a great segue into innovation.
Andy: Yeah.
Suzanne: Because it’s easy to innovate when money’s flowing.
Andy: Yeah.
Suzanne: You can take risks.
Andy: Right?
Suzanne: You can kind of try things, but again, knowing what I know with Right Connection, you’re coming up with solutions that are really innovative.
So, how do you balance that risk-reward with the limited resources?
Andy: Yeah. Well, you know, I kind of feel like unless you’re putting something on the line, um, your business isn’t growing. You have to have some amount of risk that you’re being willing to take. And, you know, that can be calculated and well known and well vetted. But if we’re not, if we’re not doing that, that’s, I’m always kind of concerned about that because then it’s like we kind of lose our edge and our sense of purpose.
So, um, at Ride Connection, for example, we’re launching an ambulance company later this year. Now, not a traditional ambulance company. This is for folks that need transportation in an ambulance to medical appointments. So, non-emergency medical transportation. Um, huge need for that. Uh, I think in a lot of metro areas, certainly in the Portland-Vancouver area, if you, it’s hard to get a ride, and these are folks who really need, uh, stretchers and specialized care to get to, get into their appointment.
So, um, do we have to do this? No. Uh, we could be perfectly fine doing the things that we’re doing, but we, we feel like, first of all, it’s a huge need. Um, who better to do it than us? And there’s also the potential for it to be quite successful, both for our customers and for us.
So, um, it was worth putting something on the line. You know what it’s done is, it’s, it’s, it’s given us kind of this, this, uh, this energy, um, it’s, it’s a little bit scary, uh, in a way that we can handle. But that’s good. That means we’re growing and we’re learning and we’re continuing to innovate in that world of, of the unknown.
Suzanne, you’re so right. I think about the times when I didn’t have resources. Those early days at Hands-On, we had to figure out how to do it.
Suzanne: Yeah.
Andy: And, and people really rallied for that. They got super motivated by that. The fact we’re plugged into a network of people doing that.
When I joined Impact Northwest a few years ago, we had to be about something. We were doing good work. Um, but there was a, we were, we were lacking a sense of urgency. And that’s when we came up with the idea that what we did and what we do is prevent homelessness. Those are folks who are one paycheck away from losing their housing. That was the focus. We had to figure out how to do that and how to line up all our program and services to it.
So, I really, um, I really think you’re, you’re spot on about that.
Now, you can, you can take on too much risk.
Suzanne: Yeah.
We’ve seen that all the time, but in our sector….
Suzanne: Yeah.
Andy: That’s not usually the issue.
Suzanne: Yeah.
Andy: It’s usually that we’re, we’re a little risk hesitant.
Suzanne: Well, and I think in the nonprofit world today, and I’m sorry, Tanis.
Tanis: You’re ok. No. I just, hearing this
Suzanne: Interrupted you, that there’s a lot of small nonprofits, especially here in Portland….
Andy: Right.
Suzanne: That are all doing the same thing.
Andy: Yes.
Suzanne: And you mentioned earlier that you see that there’s going to be some, um… Oh, good golly, all of a sudden….
Tanis: Merging.
Suzanne: Merging and, and coming together.
Andy: Right?
Suzanne: As a transportation leadership, are you looking at organizations to fold in to write?
Andy: Yeah, potentially. You know, it’s interesting because we’re, we’re really the only organization, nonprofit that does what we do. Uh, actually in the nation, uh.
Suzanne:Really?
Andy: There’s not…Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There’s not really, cuz typically it’s a public sector service. But this being Portland, we’re really into transit, right? Uh, this is one of the things that we’ve really invested in, so it kind of makes sense.
Um, yeah, I, I think I have I sort of have two thoughts about it. I, I, there is an entrepreneurship that happens in the social sector here that’s pretty outstanding. People come here, and they want to start their thing. They have a personal passion, and that’s great. And some of the, you know, certainly that is the case at Ride Connection. Yes.
It was supported by TriMet. It was a couple of people’s passion that really made it happen. And so we wouldn’t want we don’t want to quell that, but the reality is the market can only handle so much of this.
We see, see it a lot in the youth development space. There’s a lot of and it’s great because our kids need all the support they can get. The question is how sustainable is it? I think our region is known for having maybe more nonprofits than a lot of cities. But, uh, yeah, I think it’s going to shake out. I think we’ll see some mergers, acquisitions, and consolidations, um, at least in the next few years.
Um, I just hope that doesn’t quell that, that social entrepreneurism that we’ve, I think that’s been, to me, somewhat underreported element of what makes this such a great community to live in.
Suzanne: Oh, I agree.
Tanis: Yeah. I’m, I, I think that, um… I’m just going to move forward.
Suzanne: Yeah. No, no, no.
Tanis: You know, all these are really, um, there’s so much to think about, honestly.
I guess the next question that I would have for you. So, you’ve spoken quite eloquently about, um, some of the values that really inform your approach to your work. When it comes to building teams, I would be really interested to hear, kind of, you’ve mentioned how you operationalize your values. How, what do you think are the, you know, key indicators of, you know, success when, when you’re thinking about building teams, and how much does that have to do with the values that you’ve mentioned? That’s kind of part one of the question.
Andy: Yeah.
Tanis: And then secondly, I’d love for you to tell us a story about a hire that went well or didn’t, kind of based on some of those indicators.
Andy: Yeah, it’s just bingo on the team building. I mean, I, uh, we, we talked about it before, but I, you often hear about like, oh, teams need to have trust. They know how to, know how to resolve conflict. But what does that really mean? And I think it’s important for organizations to really get down on that and have these agreements.
You know, I think there’s, there’s sort of two sets to me. There’s process agreements. How are we going to share information? You know, how are we going to run our meetings? Those kind of things. Those are important, often focused on.
But what about those behavioral agreements? And even, even calling that is probably a huge turnoff to a lot of people, but it, it is like, how are we going to act around each other? And the reality is everyone in the organization is looking at us. So, we have to have our act together.
And so, we’re, we’re actually at Ride Connection right in the middle of that, getting down on what does it actually mean to build trust? What does that look like? And actually, isn’t engaging in conflict a way to build trust with someone?
Tanis: Mhm.
Andy: You know, that’s, that’s a distinction we’ve come up with, that the, the, the ability to actually have a difference of opinion and be able to talk that through another person is probably one of the better ways to then trust them on the other side. Otherwise, we’re not really going to do this.
And so, we’re trying to get really authentic. I think like a hallmark of my leadership, what I’ve really tried to do is, is be authentic about, about values and about expectations.
I’m thinking about my time at Impact, and we had a set of values which were fine, and they were things like diversity and compassion. That’s great, but couldn’t you say that really about every other nonprofit in the world?
So we, we ended up with four, and they were things like we see the beauty in people. Like, okay, what does that mean? It takes some explanation, but the value there is that anybody who shows up, um, at our door in need of service, we see them as a beautiful person, not as someone in need or a liability, as they often are in our society. You, they’re seen as a, as a, a cost center. So, we try to flip that on its head.
You know, this idea that, um, if we really understand ourselves and our DNA, that can make a massive difference. And that, and that is an approach I’ve tried to take to, to team building.
Um, and it’s okay to come up with some initial things that everyone else has. But what’s really different about Ride Connection? What really makes our executive team work based on the individuals and the needs that we have that might be different than another place that you, that you’ve been or you work at? And can we really articulate that? Once we do that, then I know we’re really humming.
Suzanne: Yeah, we, I love that. And we talk about it all the time with our nonprofit clients.
Andy: Yeah.
Suzanne: Because you go, why should somebody….
Andy: Right.
Suzanne: Come to work for you? And they always go back to the mission, and you’re, and we always go, stop. Every nonprofit…
Andy: Yeah. I always cringe. I always cringe. It’s a great cause.
Suzanne: Uh huh. Yeah.
Andy: Right.
Suzanne: But really, it’s about that….
Andy: Yeah.
Suzanne: value proposition. And the, and the question should be “why should you quit your job and come to work here?”
Andy: There you go.
Suzanne: And if you cannot….
Andy: I love that.
Suzanne: Yeah, articulate that in a succinct way, you have not identified your core.
Andy: That’s, that’s a great way of putting it.
Tanis: I want to ask another question because the, the other kind of interesting part of, of this particular question for you is that, you know, you are a fairly new leader to this organization.
Andy: That’s right.
Tanis: And so, you know, I’d be curious to hear… I will share that we did have firsthand knowledge of, you know, have, you know, supporting you and joining that team.
Andy: Right.
Tanis: And I guess we can even back up a little more and say that at Acumen, we, we know that if there’s not cultural alignment….
Andy: Right.
Tanis: Between values, you know, between the candidate and the organization, it’s just never going to work out.
I would love it if you would speak to the experience of inheriting a team.
Andy: Right.
Tanis: Uh, versus, you know, leading one from, from early on, like you did at, uh, was it Hands-On? Hands-On Portland.
Andy: Exactly.
Tanis: You’re the early leader. Now you joined a team.
Suzanne: Let’s really talk about the difference between inheriting a, a leadership team, and not only a leadership team, but one that’s been there for a long time.
Andy: Right.
Suzanne: With some new, new, newer people, versus building that leadership team from the ground up.
Andy: Right. Well, as I mentioned before, I didn’t do a great job of building it from the ground up, but I learned a lot how, how to do that. And it is a different situation, though.
And I think the first thing that I’ve done is tried to really be open and build trust with that team about like, who is this guy, right? I knew everyone was going to ask that. Who is he? And not to mention the staff.
So, um, I’ve tried to be really open and forthcoming about who I am, what I what makes me tick. I started doing videos and, um, Suzanne, you’ll appreciate this. I went out on a number of rides and filmed myself doing it and then found a way to get that to the all-staff to say, “Hey, here’s, I appreciate what you’re doing. I, enough to take time out of my day to go do it.”
Uh, and, um, and so I think building trust also looks like follow-through in a lot of ways. Um, you know, it’s really common to have, um, you these great conversations about who we are, we want to be, and then Monday morning comes and we get wrapped up in all the operations and that gets forgotten.
So I’m really being persistent about saying, “Hey everybody, we want to involve this team, and we’re going to do that at different moments over the next few weeks and months. I’ll be tracking those for you.”
And I’ve really tried to do that and make sure there’s continuity because we have to run the organization. Can’t sit around and imagine what our team might look like. So that’s been huge too, that persistence.
And, and the other piece of that is, is, um, is really letting people make decisions, uh, who are best equipped for that. There’s no better way to build trust than that.
And, um, for example, um, one of our leadership team members came to me recently and said, “I know we had decided on this, but I, I see it differently, and I think we should do this.”
And I’m like, well, who am I to get in your way? I mean, that, that makes a ton of sense. I’ve been here 2 months. You’re the subject matter expert on this.
Uh, yeah, I’m keeping an eye on things, right? I have a point of view that’s unique in my role. But those are some of the things.
Uh, and you know, and I think that, um, also, uh, a lot of the members of the executive team already know, uh, what they value and what the, uh, agreements they want to have as a team are. The conditions for them to bring those out haven’t been created yet.
So that’s what I’m doing. It’s like I’m setting the table, inviting them to sit around. I think that once that, that’s probably about 80% of it.
Suzanne: Yeah. And I think what also is unique about you, Andy, is that you came in, like you said, a few months ago, but you took over from a CEO who has been there for like….
Andy: 21 years.
Suzanne: 21 years.
Tanis: Wow.
Andy: Yeah. Right.
Suzanne: And so here believing that it is tone at the top, that….
Andy: Yeah.
Suzanne: That it is the leadership responsibility to set what is acceptable and what’s not. That’s also an interesting dynamic. What have you learned?
Andy: Yeah. Well, my predecessor was a fantastic leader and an amazing human being. Uh, had been there for 21 years. So really started a lot of the programs, was a expert on, on many of the things that we did.
And the, the first thing I did was honor that and also say that’s not me. I, I don’t have that. That isn’t my, that isn’t, I don’t see that as my job. Uh, I think my job is to get us into this maybe 3.0. This new operating system.
After years of rapid growth from a 16 to a $90 million budget, we got to focus now on building this organization, uh, and building some of the processes and structures and articulating the values and mission in a way that gets us to that new, that new area. That’s what I’m going to be focusing on.
And I think that was really helpful. And I, but I noticed people kept coming to me for like very technical things. I’m like, well, of course, Julie would have handled this. I made a lot of sense, but I’m not touching it. I might have a point of view on that, but it’s not really appropriate for me to do that.
Tanis: Yeah.
Suzanne: Right.
Andy: And I have to, like, kind of hold that line.
And there’s some there’s a vulnerability, though, because in those first few weeks, first few months, the question might be, oh, what is this guy doing?
Tanis: Right.
Andy: Like if he’s not doing this stuff and he’s not at that meeting, what is he doing?
And, uh, so it’s important for me to produce some results and, and articulate some of these, these, um, bigger core foundational pieces soon enough that will explain, yeah, okay, that’s what he’s doing. He’s creating conditions for us to be successful.
Tanis: It sounds like a very, um, tr, like, I would imagine that the trust that you’re showing your team is so impactful. I, I, I would think, like, it’s…
Andy: I hope. I mean, I, I, I think so. I think that if you want to be trusted, you trust other people. That’s like a relationship 101. I mean, it certainly works in our friendships. I think it can work on an institutional level, too.
And it’s, you know, it’s not for everyone. I think that you mentioned, Suzanne, we, you know, we grew up with these ideas of leadership, and we realize that that’s not going to work, but we all still have them. And there’s moments, you know, I still have my moments where like, oh, maybe I should have been more decisive or definitive about that. Um, there’s some vagueness happening right now, but it, it, I think letting it work out.
And, you know, right, we all have to step in when we have to step in, but that shouldn’t be our, our MO.
Tanis: Well, it’s interesting, you know, when, when you were first discussing just your own closely held values, what, what I really heard coming through, however you want to put it, you know, we, we love people, or we care about people, you know, it’s really coming down to respect.
And so it sounds like….
Andy: Right.
Tanis: Respect is, is a really core principle of yours, however you choose to define it. And it’s showing up in your leadership role now, and it’s shown up in the past, even like when you had that moment from that early, you know, nonprofit lady that told you to get out of there.
Andy: Right. Right.
Tanis: The people would feel bad. That’s respectful of those other people.
Andy: Yeah.
Tanis: That’s what resonated.
Andy: Yeah.
Tanis: So that’s really interesting.
Andy: That’s good. That’s a great point. And I think there’s like a power thing we should talk about here too.
Suzanne: Yeah.
Andy: Right. You know, um, when it comes to working in the social service world, the people we serve have the lowest level of power. We have more power than they do.
Tanis: Yeah.
Andy: This, as an organization. We have to be cognizant of that.
Um, and in my role, like I am the CEO. I have a lot of power, and with that comes responsibility of how I’m going to use it, right? And I have to be really aware of that and think about, um, how I’m acting and decisions I’m making. And am I, uh, following what I said we’re going to do, or am I, am I just, you know, doing things that work for me?
And people notice this kind of stuff. So, I think being in this sector has helped me kind of get down on that a little bit about power dynamics and be able to, um, that’s another value that I’ve been able to, to navigate and have the opportunity to over the last 20, 30 years.
Suzanne: And I think, again, that’s, that’s such an important thing that we all learn as….
Andy: Right
Suzanne: Hopefully good leaders have learned that.
So, when you look back, Andy, um, over your career, what advice would you give your 20-year-old self? And what advice would you give the next 20-year-old?
Andy: Yeah, thank you for that. That’s a great question.
Yeah, I think, you know, I think a lot of it is trust. Trust instincts. You know, I would say to myself, trust your instincts. If I think about some of these aha moments I had then still serving me now, you know, believe in yourself. Um, those gut feelings you have are probably right.
Um, you know, look, we’re all trying to kind of wash out some, some old ideas and old paradigms out of our hair, right? Leaders are constantly doing that. And, um, you know, and it’s, as you both know, it’s somewhat lonely sometimes.
You find, uh, I would say find, uh, a community of, of like-minded people. I ended up doing that. I didn’t have that in the early years. I would really been beneficial because no matter what industry you’re in, leaders face common issues and common challenges. And find people who share your values and, and, and rely on them, and that can take you really far.
Um, the reality is at this point in my life I probably won’t be working in 20 years, but at least not in the same capacity. But, um, I’d say like the thing to me, and that gets into, uh, just be, you know, I, I think we got to flex with the times. Like these, um, I I get a I get a lot of, uh, kick out of and a lot of energy from some of the, anybody who’s, I call younger is younger than me, but we’re talking about now having, what, four generations in the workplace.
Uh, so, you know, this, this Gen Y that, that’s come into the office has some really exciting values that are really relevant today. So being open to that, you know, being able to, to, to, to, um, flex with what they’re bringing in terms of their leadership. They’re the future. Get with them.
Sure, I might have some things that I can, um, that I can show them or explain to them have worked for me, but they’re going to lead differently. The world’s going to be different.
And so, yeah, I, I just hopefully I can just continue to flex with that, learn from folks that are coming up, and if I have an opportunity to provide some, some support to them and some ini insight, that’d be really that’d be really cool.
Suzanne: Absolutely.
Tanis: That’s wonderful. Well, our final question is, what does Hiring for Good mean to you?
Andy: Yeah. Well, of course, in our industry, it, it, it, it means absolutely, um, someone who believes in what we do, shares our values, and wants to, you know, make this world work for more people.
Um, and I think also it means hiring pe, for me personally, it means hiring people that are different than I am, who bring really complementary skill sets, life experiences, who are going to look at an issue and see it differently.
I’m really proud of the, our ability at Impact to have put together a, a team of really diverse folks, and that created a lot more, create better solutions. Like, I know what I know. Um, and, um, the other folks knew what they knew, and when that was working right, that was incredibly powerful.
So I’m a big believer in that, and that I think is also a huge part of hiring for good.
Suzanne: Perfect. I cannot thank you enough.
Andy: Oh, thank you. It’s been great.
Suzanne: I tell… Yeah. Everybody check out Ride Connection because, again, I think it’s the nonprofit nobody has heard of.
Andy: Yeah. Yeah. Potentially, right? Yeah.
Suzanne: Exactly. And thank you very much.
Andy: Yeah. Thank you both. Super appreciated our time together.
Tanis: I know our audience is going to really get a lot out of this conversation.
Andy: Great.
Tanis: Thank you.
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