Posts Tagged ‘Marti Maltby’
The Trouble with Normal
Peace House Community Journal By Marti Maltby A friend of mine who struggles with addiction recently told me about a hiking trip he took with a group of acquaintances. He didn’t know anyone in the group very well, but he knew them well enough to talk with them throughout the day, and he enjoyed his time with them. I was surprised when he told me that later on he had suffered a severe bout of depression because of the hike. “I feel like I lied to them. I tricked them,” he explained. It turned out that as part of his recovery from addiction, he tries to be completely honest with others, not living a double life as he did when he was actively using drugs. Understandably, he hadn’t used the hike as an opportunity to tell the group about his addiction, and he was worried that they thought he was “normal.” He felt like he had pretended not to have any problems, when from his perspective he was an addict who was totally messed up, despite the time he had been able to [...]
A Penguin Walks Through the Door …
Peace House Community journal by Marti Maltby A few years ago I came across a list of questions employers could ask potential employees to test their creativity and their ability to adjust quickly to unexpected circumstances. My favorite question was “A penguin walks through the door wearing a sombrero. What’s the first thing it says?” I actually used this during a few interviews, and I got to see a wonderful array of responses. One man broke into laughter at the ridiculous nature of the question. That turned out to be a benefit to him, as he had been nervous up to that point in the interview. The question helped him relax, and he showed a friendly demeanor from that point on. Another applicant responded immediately, “I don’t know. I don’t speak penguin”, and then waited for the next question. I learned that he wasn’t easily thrown off by unexpected developments and could think quickly when needed. Someone else told me the penguin would say “I’ve [...]
You May Know More Than You Know
Peace House Community Journal by Marti Maltby I’ve learned a few things in the last year about fundraising, like, “You can never say thank-you enough,” and, “Tell donors what you are doing with their money, because it isn’t your money that you are spending.” I’ve also learned that I need to ask Peace House Community’s donors a lot of questions, like, “How did you hear about us? Why did you decide to support us?”, and, “Do you want to receive our newsletters?” Saying thank-you seems pretty self-explanatory, but it took me longer to wrap my head around the asking of questions. I know that most people receive more emails than they want, so getting another message from me seemed like it would be more of an inconvenience than a blessing. However, I’ve come to understand that our donors know how Peace House Community looks from the outside looking in, and the best way I can show them that I recognize their expertise is to ask them for it. In this [...]
