I was walking into a two-day-long strategic planning session. The organization, with a 100-year history and a talented board, was excited to be together and excited to think about the future. But, unfortunately, no amount of planning can prevent the inevitability of a group getting tired during a two-day planning session.

The grumble emerged as a team member reached for his 6,000th post-it note: “Can’t we just have AI do this?”

Well, can’t we?

For a few weeks of this Robot Apocalypse news cycle, I felt anxious about the future of our work. But then, I tried generative AI for the first time and I’m not nervous anymore.

The truth is, just like the dream pony of our youth, volunteers are a gift that comes with lots of thought, care, and planning. Just like you, they will feel frustrated if their work is boring. They want to see the direct outcomes of their work and feel a tie to the mission of your organization.

So that orange light? Whether I recognize it or not, it gets my attention. I pull my car into a reliable mechanic in moments when I see it.

When it comes time for me to finally settle down and enjoy a moment alone if media is involved? It’s a romantic comedy. And this time of year, that means a hell of a lot of holiday romance movies.

“But Nikki!” you may say, “They are predictable, and they lack depth, and they always end the same way!”

And I would give you a sly grin, a winsome wink, and whisper, “Exactly!”

If I show up without a blazer in certain rooms, I’m assumed to be someone’s daughter visiting home from college. More than once, I’ve been asked to get the coffee for a director, while on contract as the planning consultant. So my strategy, each day, is to figure out which costume will read as “capable grown up” to a room of people older than me. The consequences of not doing so are serious: not getting the contract, not passing a plan, or even just being spoken over.

Don’t learn about finance because you “should.” Allow time to follow your curiosity down a trail like a child learning. Explore the evolution of gingko trees, dive into design thinking, or pioneer a new vegan baking technique. Activate areas of your brain that only light up when your natural curiosity is piqued.

As we re-enter the world of the workforce, here are a few things I hope we keep from pandemic work culture …

Being tolerant and welcoming is distinct and different. So, let’s take a moment to explore what it means to create an organizational culture of WELCOME.

Why? I can’t remember having an email mentor who modeled healthy digital behavior. This is a new area of human communication, and we’re still learning how to manage it. There aren’t field experts; instead, there were cautionary tales.

We believe that the best way to support a nonprofit is to surround it with services to help it communicate, plan, and lead itself better. Providing expertise can only help with some of that. So, we also provide access to skilled team members who can create assets for young nonprofits: we write grants, design logos, develop websites, and then train the team to use what they’ve made.

I’ve discovered that self-care is often about the tourniquet you place on the wound so you can heal later.

That means that sometimes self-care is the shower you spend in tears. Sometimes, self-care is checking your bank account and ensuring it still reads positive. Sometimes, self-care is deciding to do a load of laundry so you have options on what you wear tomorrow.

That is how I came across the dramatic tale of Mr. Wrinkles. Mr. Wrinkles, the oldest elephant in Africa, knows every animal. He remembers each of their names because, as the book reminds us, "an elephant never forgets." But this sweetie of a mammal has the misfortune of falling into a hole one day between visits to a herd of giraffes and a cheetah.

I hope to be as active a supporter of good work in the world into my 9th decade, and I look to President Carter’s example to help me get there. Today, though, he was rushed to the hospital from the work site after a day’s work in the heat, struggling with the effects of dehydration.

Focusing on what needs to be done immediately rather than what we'll need in six months prevents us from being all we can be. Focusing on putting one step in front of the other without your eyes on your destination is sure to cause disaster.

We do this so often. We overextend. We see our tanks emptying and assume we’ll be okay for a few more days or a few more weeks. We pretend not to notice as we slip from 100% to 80% to 60%. And suddenly, we’re at 0%, and all must stop to accommodate it, rather than planning breaks in the first place.

Rescue dogs can have issues - maybe food scarcity was a problem for her in her early weeks. Regardless, every time she has something she loves, her biggest worry is keeping it. The trouble is she's so afraid of losing it that she's missing an opportunity for four or five other nice things.

Whenever I needed my address to sign up for something, mail something, or record something, I'd always be asked to spell it. Every time! Why was it happening? It's annoying! It didn't happen to my husband! And then it clicked. Here's why: I was walking up to every person in America with the sense that I didn't deserve their time.

He’s completely excited about the band, the music, the songs, and interacting with the crowd, in spite of his contribution being atypical to other rock music from the era and the fact that he seems to have wasted zero time wondering if he should enjoy every minute of it. I wish I had one ounce of that “Hell yes!”

Here's the best example of how not to do a logo that I can ever imagine: Transmissions. Yep, transmissions. Whenever I see a transmission-specific mechanic shop - without fail - the logo for the business is an accurate drawing of an actual transmission. Sometimes, they sweeten this weird decision by using actual transmissions in their office decoration, which is - by far - the worst decision I can imagine.