Steve Smith is the CEO at Association Management Center, where he supports national healthcare association volunteers and staff leaders. He helps them leverage their natural strengths to continue the mission of the non-profit organization. Steve shares a bit of history behind the need for nonprofit medical services, and also provides insight on how healthcare has changed over the years to better support the people and their personalized needs.

Key Takeaways

[3:20] Steve shares why he is passionate about non-profit work.

[6:40] There’s a misconception that non-profit work means no money, but it’s run like a business.

[7:40] Non-profits do run on thinner margins, which makes this space and the important work people do a lot more challenging.

[9:45] The way people want healthcare support has changed over the years. The non-profit space needs to be able to adapt quickly or else it becomes difficult to course-correct later on.

[14:35] Steve shares the best ways to work with board members and provide helpful governance training and resources.

[17:50] Steve has spent a long time in the healthcare industry and shares some interesting insights about this space.

[19:35] Seventy percent of Medicare costs are incurred during the last six to 12 months of life. Steve explains why it’s so expensive.

[25:15] Steve explains the origins of hospice care and how this is now translating into the nonprofit space.

[27:40] A new thread is emerging: The nonprofit space is an excellent way to test out the next big business idea.

[32:00] When you’re trying to make an impact within your community, you make a bigger contribution when you are a part of an organization than just an individual trying to bootstrap it. People can get burned out easily in the nonprofit space.

[34:15] In 2020, a lot of leaders, especially in healthcare, had to adapt their leadership style to better accommodate unknown challenges ahead. We’ve all grown from this, but there’s still a lot to learn.

[36:45] Steve always enjoyed being the person behind the curtain, but sometimes you need to trust your skills and make that leap of faith to push yourself and step into a leadership role.

[41:35] Nonprofit work does pay less. Steve addresses this as a man who also has a family and bills to pay.

[44:25] Listener challenge: Focus on restoration work. Take care of others, ourselves, and our communities.

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The Leadership Podcast is sponsored by W.S. Darley & Company.  

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Quotable Quotes

Resources Mentioned

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• Websites: Connect2amc.com & LinkedIn