David La Piana

Times are tough, and especially so for the executive directors or our nation’s nonprofits. Budget woes, increasing demands for both more services and more measurable outcomes, and the ever-greater difficulty of fundraising make what has always been a difficult job so much harder today. That is why I have a suggestion for every nonprofit CEO in America: get yourself a dog. Whether it is a big, romping, home-wrecker of a lab or golden retriever, an ever-watchful and protective German Shepherd, or one of a wide variety of teeny, tiny little miniature dogs, “purse dogs” they are often called, a well-selected, well-matched, well-trained dog will do several things for you.

First, no matter how miserable or long your day, when you come home your dog will make you feel like you just won the Nobel Prize. You just can’t beat a dog’s perennial happy-to-see-you attitude. It is a lot more predictable than that of your family members, especially if your family includes teenagers.

Second, no matter how tired you are, you will have to go for a walk. A small dog may only require a five minute stroll, but a big, energetic playmate says “grab the ball, dude, we’re going to the park!” So you’ll get some exercise – every day, rain or shine, layoffs or budget battles.

Third, there are few problems you will face that can’t be made better by having your dog under your desk while you face them. At La Piana Consulting every day is take a dog to work day. In fact, when Cody was a puppy, he would snooze on my lap while I wrote emails. Then he started snoozing at my feet, which was great except for the time he ate one of my shoelaces right off of my shoe. But that puppy time passes, and now he either lays at my feet while I work, reminding me every few hours that we both need a ball-throwing break, or he sits in my reading chair with me, head on my lap, reminding me that the world could be so much worse off without a dog.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 9:08 am and is filed under Assorted Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.