A child’s early years are the foundation for their future development. Experiences of caregiving and education during these crucial years provide the base for a child’s lifelong learning. There is no denying that limited access to quality and affordable childcare is one of the greatest obstacles during the pandemic and beyond.

I appreciate your message earlier this week and as a non-black woman of color in the fundraising profession, I felt a duty to respond to your call for feedback.

Audacity is one of Gladiator Consulting’s Core Values and is at the heart of our work. We committed to this Core Value in 2017 before we knew that a global pandemic would sweep in and force our collective hands to jump into the deep-end of change-making. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be a heart attack survivor before my 30th birthday - and, most of us never thought we would be grappling with the uncertainty of this new chapter of our lives and work.

Change is always daunting when it doesn’t feel like our choice. Considering scenarios is not “predicting the future.”  It is an opportunity to imagine alternative realities and create strategies based on varying conditions. As one of Gladiator’s core values is Imagination. We find this helpful because it allows us, in partnership with our clients, to identify risk, enable clarity in decision-making, promote timely innovation, and react quickly to our uncertain landscape. 

The reality of our "VUCA" world comes into sharp focus as our region grapples with COVID-19. Everything about the pandemic is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. As you make decisions for your institution, employees and other stakeholders, I would like to offer the following…

In this blog post, Rachel explores the lessons learned in 2019, the impact Gladiator and our clients are making in the community, and a vision for 2020 and beyond.

In October 2019, Gladiator’s Founder and Principal, Rachel D’Souza-Siebert, was featured on the local podcast Entrepreneurially Thinking.

Welcome to a new year! Despite the fact I know that not much really changes between December 31st and January 1st, there’s something about the flip of that calendar page that renews my dreams, hopes and ambitions for the year to come.

This week, I read an article in the Journal of Policy Analysis & Management entitled “Policy Analysts, Clients and Social Scientists.”  The piece, written by Robert D. Behn, made an interesting distinction between the approach of a social scientist, who evaluates issues broadly and focus on high level actions, and the policy analyst, who must seriously address implementation steps in order to be successful.

Like all good first-born, type A people, I had a plan. It was a good plan that met the needs of my stakeholders (spouse, children, employer). It was a plan made me as happy as I thought I could be.  And then life came through and smashed that plan to teensy tiny pieces.