BEST OF: E159: Laura Gassner Otting: Mission-Driven – Moving from Profit to Purpose

First aired 8/20/21

Laura Gassner Otting is a professional motivational keynote speaker and Washington Post best-selling author. Laura’s 25-year resume is defined by her entrepreneurial edge. She served as a Presidential Appointee in Bill Clinton’s White House, helping shape AmeriCorps; left a leadership role at respected nonprofit search firm, Isaacson, Miller, to expand the startup ExecSearches.com.

She founded and ran the Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group, which partnered with the full gamut of mission-driven nonprofit executives, from start-up dreamers to scaling social entrepreneurs to global philanthropists. She is the author of Mission-Driven, a book for those moving from profit to purpose.

This Episode’s Heavy-Hitters:

Laura became a member of Bill Clinton’s campaign after she realized law school wasn’t for her. She dropped out, and then “did what everyone does when they’re in a bad position in life” and “dated a guy that was awful.” Thankfully, this awful guy introduced her to an early Bill Clinton campaign, which would eventually take her to the White House.

The worst part about leaving the White House is that all of a sudden, people are less interested in taking your calls.

Laura is a motivational speaker, but accountability might be even more important to her than motivation. She’s a supporter of “compulsory service” like what’s used in the military draft, but instead for services like teaching, volunteering and so on.

“In this country, we like women who are in power; we don’t like women who want power” — Laura on Hillary Clinton’s loss in the 2016 presidential campaign.

The hardest part of the book writing process for Laura isn’t the writing, it’s the thinking. The writing is “pretty quick,” it’s the thinking through experiences that takes some time.

“Failure is not finale, it’s fulcrum;” it’s where you can learn and rise from.

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