Journal Entries 6 - SheryleGillihan

Learning to Innovate

We often look to other leaders for inspiration, guidance and motivation. Gandhi has always been one I quote often. One of my favorite quotes is: “Live as if you were to die tomorrow, learn as if you were to live forever.” Mahatma Gandhi Depending on our perspective, there are a few ways to read meaning…

I Don’t Need to Change the World, Only Myself

It starts somewhere, right? Every story has an important beginning. If I ever write my story however, I think I would start in the middle because that’s when I understood just how important the events of my past had been to shaping my purpose. On the afternoon of July 4th, 2013, I sat content on…

Your Inner Wonder Woman

Do you have a Wonder Woman complex? You’re not alone; I too have a super hero complex and like anything, it can be healthy in moderation. However, your desire to do everything can become unhealthy for you and those around you. Celebrate your strengths and recognize your challenges. I feel like I can or should…

3 Challenges for International Development

Recently, I attended the Harvard International Development Conference at the Harvard Kennedy School, which was ironically titled “The End of Development.” The keynote speakers were inspiring, the crowd was eager to change the world, and the message was clear: International Development is at the beginning of a new era. It must adapt to new expectations, advancing technologies,…

Identifying Your Job Description

Recently, I’ve been taking on a lot more responsibility and the hours in the day just weren’t enough to get it all done. I take that back; I had enough time to do everything, just not enough time to do it all well. I found I was picking and choosing which things would get more…

Partner Solutions: A New Paradigm for Digital Services

The most important thing about choosing a team name or title is ensuring it reflects your job both internally and externally. What’s in a name? At CauseLabs we have three core teams that make things happen: the Creative Team, the Tech Team and the Partner Solutions Team. While the first two are fairly straightforward, Partner…

What is the perfect project?

I spent some time thinking about the perfect project and realized that even across my small team, all with very similar goals and personalities, the answer differs vastly from person to person. For some, the perfect project is analytical and manages data and reports. For example, such projects include apps that measure social impact, dashboards…

Simple Things Make A Big Difference

I often make seemingly irrational decisions on very minor things just because it will improve my day. For example, There are two streets that lead to my house; one is the street I live on and the other is a side street that may actually be a longer route depending on the direction I’m coming…

Managing Email Deliverability

The days of the Pony Express had its challenges. Airmail may never go away, but it can’t keep up with our desire for instant delivery. Emails drastically changed communication, but it too is plagued with delivery concerns. Email deliverability is a common problem amongst social enterprises and nonprofits, especially when developing a platform that sends…