Nonprofit Mastermind Podcast

Episode: "Before You Set 2026 Goals, Ask This One Question"

Host: Brooke Richie-Babbage
Date: September 9, 2025

Episode Overview

In this insightful episode, Brooke Richie-Babbage encourages nonprofit leaders to pause their goal-setting for 2026 and first ask themselves a crucial, often overlooked question:
“Where am I bracing instead of leading?”
Brooke unpacks the difference between “bracing” (simply holding things together through endurance and willpower) and “leading” (intentionally designing systems for sustainable growth), sharing practical reflection prompts and real-life examples from her coaching work. The episode offers a blend of mindset reframe and actionable systems audit, aiming to help founders and executive directors steer their organizations toward sanity and sustainability, not just survival.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Core Question: Bracing vs. Leading

• Brooke’s Foundational Query (00:00):
  “Where am I bracing instead of leading?”
  This question, Brooke urges, should be asked at least quarterly by every nonprofit executive.

• Definition of Bracing (00:58):
  Bracing means defaulting to overwork and enduring chaos:

  • Saying yes to anything because it feels easier than delegating
  • Pushing forward with an understaffed team
  • Holding in stress about deadlines or deliverables with no true system in place
  • Absorbing the pressure of growth into yourself, even to the point of burnout

  “Bracing looks like working harder, working later, working more—not stepping back and architecting a fix for whatever is causing the chaos.” (01:31)

  Examples of Bracing:

  • Holding onto legacy programs that no longer fit strategic priorities
  • Rushing through events/campaigns without analyzing what worked before
  • Trying to keep everything afloat through urgency and grit

• Definition of Leading (03:45):
  Leading is about designing structures, systems, and boundaries for clarity and capacity:

  • Naming root problems (not enough leverage, unclear priorities)
  • Creating and upgrading systems to solve them
  • Redesigning organizational roles, decision rights, and performance metrics based on current needs
  • Using strategic plans proactively to align staff and funding

  “Leading...is about intentionally designing the clarity, the structure and the capacity that your organization needs to carry the weight itself. Not you, not your team, so that growth feels supported, not like it’s slowly suffocating you.” (02:48)

Why the Distinction Matters

1. Energy and Sustainability (05:24)

Bracing quietly and constantly drains internal capacity—even if things appear stable on the surface.

• Leaders may look competent but are “absorbing pressure silently through overfunctioning, overowning, overworking.” (06:10)
• Chronic tension signals growth pushing to the breaking point:
  • Team stagnation
  • Delayed decisions
  • Dropped balls
  • Fragile fundraising

“Bracing eats capacity from the inside out. No board retreat or extra grant is going to address that, because the inner structure isn't there.” (07:10)

2. Limiting Organizational Growth (07:40)

You cannot scale beyond the strength of your design:

• Visible growth without strong internal systems leads to burnout at the top
• Leaders and teams become the “container” instead of the organization’s structure

“Your organization can't grow beyond the strength of its design... If the systems underneath aren't designed to hold the weight of all of that more, then you—and often your team—become the container. And that is where burnout lives.” (08:00)

3. Modeling to Your Team (09:00)

Your style sets the tone for your team and culture:

• If you brace, your team will mirror that behavior
• Absorbing pressure and normalizing overwork trickles down, even if your stated intentions differ
• Designing systems and clarity gives permission for healthy boundaries and risk-taking

4. Strategic Clarity (09:40)

Bracing causes a reactive approach—solving only immediate problems:

• Leaders get stuck in the “tyranny of the urgent” and chase short-term fixes
• Leading means diagnosing and redesigning to move proactively towards mission impact

“You find that you look up after three months or six months. And no matter what has gone into your annual plan, you’ve been chasing short term relief, not long term design.” (09:50)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Key Mindset Shift (00:58 – 04:00):

  “You're ultimately asking yourself: where am I unconsciously absorbing the pressure of our growth instead of designing a container to hold it?” — Brooke Richie-Babbage

• The Iceberg Analogy (07:40):

  “Everything looks great above the surface, right? The top of the iceberg. But if that base of the iceberg...if the systems underneath aren’t designed to hold the weight of all of that more, then you...become the container. And that is where burnout lives.” — Brooke Richie-Babbage

• Design vs. Absorb (09:00):

  “When you design instead of absorb, you give your team permission for clear roles and ownership, for transparent decision making, for a confident pace and an ability to fail forward.” — Brooke Richie-Babbage

Related Reflection Prompts (10:05)

Brooke ends with a series of powerful questions for leaders as they plan for the coming year:

• What am I tolerating or carrying that a system could actually solve?
• Where am I overworking to compensate for a weak container?
• What am I white knuckling right now? What did I white knuckle this year? What would leading through that instead look like?
• What part of our organization feels heaviest or most fragile? What kind of design upgrade could fix that?
• If I stepped into the role of “architect” instead of “operator,” what would change? What would the ripple effect be?

Success Stories & Real Outcomes (21:31)

Brooke shares mini-case studies from participants in her ‘Next Level Nonprofit’ program as examples of transformation when leaders focus on diagnosing and redesigning for sustainability:

• 100% board giving for the first time
• Strategic plan completed in 3.5 months
• Fundraising jump from $9,000 to $27,000 in six months

“We helped them diagnose what was blocking their growth, showed them how to redesign to fix it...and help them lock in the systems they needed to see concrete changes.” (22:02)

Action Step for Listeners

As you approach your 2026 planning:

• Reflect on whether you are bracing or leading
• Use Brooke's reflection prompts to pinpoint areas for system and mindset upgrades
• Prioritize building containers (systems and structures) so that organizational capacity grows with your ambitions

For more resources, reflection prompts, and ongoing support:

• Sign up for Brooke’s newsletter, Leadership Forward 321 (Text “impact” to 66866)
• Visit BrookeRitchieBabbage.com/podcast

Recommended listening timestamp highlights:

• [00:00] – Introduction to the key question
• [00:58] – Deep dive into bracing vs. leading
• [07:40] – Why internal design limits growth
• [10:05] – Reflection prompts for leaders
• [21:31] – Real leader outcomes through systems design