Have a Mission-First Mindset: Interview with Bertina Ceccarelli, CEO of NPower
I recently went one on one with Bertina Ceccarelli, CEO of NPower. Bertina is the co-author of the new book Innovating for Diversity: Lessons from Top Companies Achieving Business Success through Inclusivity.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Bertina: I believe that each step--and misstep--along my somewhat circuitous journey prepared me for my job as the CEO of NPower. My work to connect low-income young adults and veterans to well-paid tech careers is born out of a set of deeply personal experiences. Growing up in a working-class family with two parents who didn’t graduate from high school, college for me was not a foregone conclusion. I was lucky when my high school social studies teacher pulled me aside one day and explained how a Pell grant could be a way to afford college, and that was a moment that forever changed my own trajectory. His simple act of caring taught me the importance of mentors and the imperative to pay it forward wherever you are in life.
Coincidentally, my college work-study was in IT support for the engineering department and all these years later, it’s hugely rewarding to lead a nonprofit that is devoted to helping others find successful pathways in tech starting on that first rung of the ladder where there is so much upward mobility.
After college, I worked at the intersection of technology, media, and entertainment for many years before moving into the nonprofit sector. Hard-knocks experience at two start-ups was ideal preparation for leading a fast-growing nonprofit where you have to thrive with lean resources, compete for excellent talent, be smart about how technology can support scale, and be crystal clear on your mission.
Adam: What are the best leadership lessons you have learned from leading a non-profit organization?
Bertina: I sometimes think of Ginger Rogers when describing what it’s like to be the CEO of a non-profit. The notion that Ms. Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did, but “backward and in high heels” is not too unlike the difference between the work of a nonprofit leader and a corporate leader. We drive growth and results, attract and retain talent, and deliver high-impact programming all on an exceedingly tight budget in a highly constrained environment. It is a choice we make as leaders because the reward of opening opportunities for others and changing lives brings a profound sense of purpose (blisters be damned!).
Here are a few thoughts that come to mind on a few of the lessons I’ve learned these past seven years at NPower:
Have a mission-first mindset. It’s hard to make a wrong turn when you are relentlessly focused on the best interests of the community you are serving - your clients.
Recruit team members motivated by purpose and with the skills and values needed to deliver on your mission. The work of any direct-service nonprofit is exceedingly difficult, but a resilient team of talented individuals with a core passion for service can overcome inevitable bumps and downturns.
Know how to persuasively and personally connect funders with your mission. I once worked with a highly capable nonprofit CFO who liked to say, “no margin, no mission”. And she was right. Without a steady source of philanthropic, fee-based, government, and grant funding, it’s impossible to have impact at scale and fully realize the change you seek to make in the world.
Adam: What are your best tips for fellow leaders of non-profit organizations?
Bertina:
Live your values. Values can’t just be words on a website. Leaders at all levels need to be culture carriers who exhibit the organization’s values in good times and bad. And when making decisions easy and hard. Leaders need to be fearless in calling out others when their actions undermine values. Hire people who have a track record of demonstrating your values as well as the skills needed for the job. Fire people who consistently disregard values, even if their technical performance is strong. These are the people toxic to a culture and will undermine an organization’s success.
Invest in developing internal talent. The competition for great talent is as fierce in the nonprofit sector as it is in the corporate world. Your best pool for future leaders is right in front of you, already on your team. Identify excellent performers and surround them with opportunities for growth and skills-building. Turn to your board members who may have their own development programs to complement what you can do in-house, offer stretch assignments or rotational experiences, and have frequent career conversations with high-potential talent. Consider building a comprehensive talent plan where projects need roles 1-3 years out and build for succession considering internal team members, especially diverse members who can bring new perspectives and experiences to more senior roles.
Cultivate an engaged, committed board of directors. I can’t overstate the power of having an influential group of leaders actively involved in the strategy of any nonprofit. Keeping a board informed and engaged takes work. But, I have found my board tremendously helpful in navigating the rapidly changing climate in the tech sector and advising on issues like risk management, compensation policy, and long-range planning. While I have found many board members eager to support fundraising efforts, they are much more inclined to do so--and are far more effective--when they are involved in strategy and consulted on operational matters.
Align individual role outcomes with mission. Every employee needs to understand how their job advances the broader mission. I find this especially true in the non-profit sector where people sign on because of a belief in the greater purpose of the organization. Employees can quickly lose motivation if they feel their goals are at cross purposes with those of their colleagues, or that there is no clear connection between their efforts and client success.
Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Bertina:
Hire diverse talent and create cultural conditions where equity and inclusivity thrive. When your team members feel supported, respected, and truly seen for all the qualities they bring to the workplace, effective collaboration, employee retention, and overall engagement soar. Importantly, apply a DEI lens not just to recruiting talent, but also developing and advancing talent across all levels of the organization.
Cultivate a healthy sense of curiosity. Staying informed and asking questions about the new technologies, trends, and research impacting your business helps you look beyond the horizon and anticipate what’s next. It also sets the tone for your teams and establishes the value of ongoing learning. Continuous curiosity prevents complacency, sharpens strategy, and expands vision.
Practice a growth mindset with goal clarity. It’s impossible to push boundaries when leaders and their teams are unclear about both individual and organizational goals. The thrill of surpassing goals along with the right recognition can fuel a pursuit of much bigger possibilities.
Prioritize progress over perfection. Nothing kills a business faster than the indecision and stagnation that can result from waiting for perfect conditions.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders?
Bertina:
Own the stage. Become known as an expert in your field and a fierce external advocate for the solutions your business or organization brings to the world. Be fearless in presenting at high-impact venues where you can deliver your message to those who most need to hear it.
Learn from failure and success in equal measure. Take the time to conduct after-action reviews to thoroughly understand why a project landed on a certain outcome, rather than make assumptions.
Seek feedback. One of my board members once advised, “Listen carefully to all feedback and consider it a gift. You may not always agree, but you must pay attention, process, and consciously decide what to take action on, and what not to.” He was right. I find that as a CEO, I have to actively seek feedback and receive it with openness and humility.
Adam: What do you hope readers take away from your new book?
Bertina: My co-author Susanne Tedrick and I tell the stories of great leaders - some are founders and CEOs and others are mid-level executives--who understand the profound value in building diverse workplaces for both organizational culture and business results. The notion that diverse teams lead to better innovation is well documented, but we flip this idea on its head and examine how successful leaders apply innovation to build diversity into the DNA of their cultures and avoid getting stuck in a “check the box” approach to DEI. A few of the practices we want readers to consider after reading the book:
Visible support from the CEO and C-suite leaders is critical to building a culture that prioritizes DEI, but without support and clear actions from hiring managers up and down the company, little will change.
It’s okay to start small. Pilots and experimentation are central to any innovation, and it’s no different with DEI. Be clear with goals, measure, have accountability, and elicit discussion for improvement.
Know when to tackle underlying cultural issues limiting DEI progress. It’s not uncommon for certain practices and attitudes to be so deeply embedded in an organization that they are invisible. These are the issues that need to be addressed as root problems before DEI programs can thrive.
Leaders must demonstrate steadfast commitment. Senior leaders especially can expect some backlash, which may be more a symptom of serious fractures in culture than a real resistance to greater diversity, equity and inclusion. Staying the course, committing to DEI every day and over the long term, can address the deeper issues of fairness connected to performance management, pay, promotions, and recognition that are often at the core of staff concerns.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Bertina: A few years ago, NPower honored Ginni Rometty when she served as the CEO of IBM. I will never forget when she told me, “get comfortable being uncomfortable”. I think about that piece of advice often, whenever I’m about to do something I haven’t done before and don’t know quite what to expect. The idea used to make me nervous. But now that I realize how much I learn “getting out of my comfort zone”, it brings me energy.
Adam: What can anyone do to pay it forward?
Bertina: Find a nonprofit with a mission that lights you up and become a board member. Pour all of your leadership, experience, knowledge, and connections into the health and growth of that organization, and support the staff team by serving as a mentor.
Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally-recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.
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