Welcome to Brazen Careerist!

TOP IDEA: Cherita Smith Is Your Nonprofit Run Like Soviet Russia? http://su.pr/1vP1QA Soviet Russia was an empire suffocated by central planning. All too often it feels like the nonprofit sector is choking on central planning, plagued by a fear of giving up control. Despite well-meaning directors and board committees, what has the nonprofit sector—or your organization—really accomplished? Could more be accomplished if nonprofit employees were given the space and the resources to be creative and innovate?

TOP IDEA: Cherita Smith 4 Lessons for Nonprofits from Lost: http://su.pr/1Awxa5 The TV show Lost was, at its heart, a show about the human condition. Because nonprofits are, at the heart, organizations about the human condition, there are lessons that nonprofits can learn from Lost. Here are four: 1. Tell beautiful, emotionally compelling stories. 2. Engage your community of supporters. 3. Create fun experiences with new media. 4. Don't leave your supporters hanging.

TOP IDEA: Cherita Smith How to Design Winning Email Appeals: http://su.pr/2itjfk Great writing and compelling stories are critical to fundraising success—this is just as true of email as it is of direct mail. But even an amazing story will be overlooked if it’s delivered in a poorly designed email. Your email’s design serves two purposes: 1. to get people to read your amazing story 2. to get people to click to your site so they can give To get your appeals read, learn these secrets to winning email design.

Ryan Paugh I thought that Target did an awesome job with their "Targeted" advertising during the LOST series finale. Here's an article w/ all three commercials + a few funny spoofs: http://bit.ly/b9XZlo It surprises me that more brands didn't follow suit. Supposedly 30-sec ads during the finale cost more than $900K and I can only imagine how many millions of people tuned in. Why not target your ads to LOST's loyal fans? KFC doing Mr. Cluck's Chicken ads maybe? Budweiser doing Dharma Beer? Too late!

Jennifer Koren I can't believe no posts about LOST yet? So what did everyone think? I thought this was a great episode and am super excited for the Sunday! Did everyone watch it or some of you still waiting to replay the DVR?

Cherita Smith Am I the only one who thought Jacob was the "good" guy and MIB the "bad" one, but after last night's episode am now not so sure? Jacob was kind of a jerk - the smoke monster is all his fault, and the crazy mom liked MIB better. What's up with that?

Rebecca Thorman I just read in the WSJ that there's a trend for women to start having kids early again. As someone very much focused on my career, this makes my stomach turn a little, but I'm happy for the many people I know having babies right now. Do you see any signs of this trend among people you know? Are you or others having children earlier rather than holding off for more financial security?