Just like a network of air hubs is necessary to traverse the globe, it takes a multitude of agencies and non-profits to navigate our most complex social issues. For example, tackling homelessness may need to involve any combination of mental health, addiction, workforce readiness and financial literacy partners. And coordinating that legion of players can be as frenetic as anything that happens in an air traffic control tower. That sounds like a recipe for infectious burnout and turnover. So I was shocked when I saw it foster the complete opposite.

Today, I want to single out a subset of leaders who have been directly touched by the issue they are working to solve. It’s somehow different when you’ve been in the shoes of those you’re trying to help. The desire to turn adversity into action is natural. Yet turning reaction into reality is rare. And that rarity offers us some valuable insights.

In some respects, the nonprofit sector has even the most diplomatic Southerner beat. What we say isn’t what we mean. And these are the three most common euphemisms I hear from organizations of every size and locale.

Growing up, TV was my window to a wider world. It’s not that my own needed escaping. I was just fascinated by the twists others’ lives took. From a single mother waiting tables at a diner in Phoenix to a junk dealer arguing with his adult son in Watts, I heard different dialects and toured circumstances far removed from the TV room of my middle-class home in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

The list of subjects you don’t bring up in polite conversation is growing. The adage about not discussing religion or politics is now insufficient. We can add vaccines to the list of taboo topics. It’s too difficult to predict where someone stands. And it can be terribly divisive to find out.

I’m a painter. I paint because you can’t think about anything else while you do. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Our work, be it art or changing behavior, follows a consistent arc with three phases. If we know where we are in the process, we can facilitate our way through them.

What we can learn from those we’re trying to help.

Shills, pills and five essentials for fighting the good fight.

It finally caught up to me. For most of my life, I’d been able to eat pretty much what I want and still fit the description “tall and thin.” Then one day, my pants were too tight in the waist. It was so gradual I didn’t notice. Until it became too uncomfortable not to notice.

If your cause is a long haul rather than a quick fix, this post offers some important considerations.