We’ve all experienced it. That moment of shock when a friend, coworker or relative (hopefully a distant one) repeats a conspiracy theory with conviction. Next is an awkward pause that comes with the realization that challenging their belief would be futile. But the need to hold onto false belief systems comes from instincts not only worth understanding, but even emulating. New research reveals three powerful motivations that drive people to embrace falsehoods. So let’s make sense of sense making, and leverage that for good.

I still remember a late Friday afternoon call from a frantic client. “I’ve screwed up,” she blurted in place of hello. She’d gotten word from a board member that her annual appeal mailing had no return envelope for donations. “What do I do?” she asked. My advice was hardly groundbreaking. But the outcome gave powerful proof of a bias called the pratfall effect. Here’s what you need to know about it, plus three considerations for opening your organization up to more authentic, endearing communications.

There’s not much that doesn't get me thinking about human behavior and the innovative ways we might shape it. But sometimes, I’m influenced by the most mundane stimuli. Such was the case this week when a TV commercial for Generac emergency home generators made me stop and think. The ad wasn’t creative or entertaining, so I’m doubtful of its ultimate impact, but its strategy was chef’s knife sharp. The Weather Channel’s lead storm chaser, Jim Cantore, was the spokesperson. Who better than the captain of climate chaos to remind you that extreme weather can rob you of agency? Because at its core, Generac is about something in short supply that we nevertheless crave – control. Here are three ways causes like yours can tap into this hard-wired human instinct and spur healthier outcomes.

While nonprofits’ intentions are golden, much of our communications are backward, and not in a retro-cool way. We need social impact brands that compel behavioral change, and too many of us are branding like it’s the 19th century. Recent history shows that there have been three distinct evolutions of brand development. And where your cause sits on this continuum may well dictate its level of impact. Find yourself and how to adjust accordingly.

For centuries, painters worked only in their studios. That's until 1841 when John Goffe Rand invented the paint tube and ushered in an artistic revolution. For social impact marketers, the internet is our modern version of the paint tube. It's initiated a chain reaction stoked by social media, digital marketing, and now, AI. And it’s done it at a time of turmoil. So, what does late-19th century painting tell us about 21st-century nonprofit leadership? That good things can eventually come from disruption and discord if you cultivate the right mindset. This article examines three key frameworks for making lemonade out of what feels like souring circumstances.

If you stop believing that good will prevail, it’s time to step off the carousel. But with such persistent problems and unresolved fixes, it’s easy to become weary or jaded. Personal dispositions aside, here’s why the glass really is half-full and how your cause can benefit from it.

Your work is a combination of the cause you support, the service you offer, and the people you are helping. All the things that drew you to the nonprofit sector. Your job, on the other hand, includes all the administrative tasks associated with running your enterprise. This is where the worries come into play, the things that gnaw at you, chief among them staff resiliency and turnover. It’s time to shift your focus away from the job and back onto the work. Here are six steps to reprioritize purpose in your organization’s culture.

Our current political trainwreck got me thinking about the power of negative messaging. The candidates are masters of it. But, in many ways, you and I face a similar conflict. We’re trying to change behavior, so we have an adversary. Be it addiction, stigma, illness, bigotry, or misinformation, we’re all trying to defeat something. Like the politicians, it can be tempting to call out the boogieman. But is it effective?

You aren’t as in charge as you might think. We’re all moved by the behaviors of those around us. We’ve always known this. At least your parents did when they worried about you “running with a bad crowd.” This is “social proof” — the behavioral science term for our tendency to assume the actions of those around us reflect what is correct or normal. But “like attracts like” well beyond the high school cafeteria. So here are three rules of thumb for using it to your cause’s advantage.