Written by Charles Anyimi

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

– Anonymous proverb, documented in Joan Horbiak’s 50 Ways to Lose Ten Pounds, 1995

I came away from our report-out with two thoughts: startled that these issues have not been fully addressed for so long; saddened that I had the knowledge to do something but never gave it a second thought.

For thirty years, my work centered on eliminating operational drag so customers could scale enterprise silicon with absolute confidence. The trillion-dollar tech industry owes a massive debt to the not-for-profit sector. Many of the open-source frameworks we rely on were built by organizations that prioritized enduring value over immediate profit.

Yet the very people dedicating their lives to serving a larger purpose are drowning.

Mission-driven leaders are working 55-75 hours a week, heavily consumed by manual administrative tasks and siloed data that would never survive a week in enterprise tech. They are battling 42% volunteer no-show rates, and tragically, 24% of these leaders are facing burnout.

Shortly after delivering the report, I received another email: think about how you can help us change things around? It was clear that the technology that underpinned so much of my career can be used to lighten the operational load of purpose-driven organizations. In my mind, I heard a pin drop. It is said that the calling comes before the commissioning: I had a divine clarity of purpose, and I was scared stupid.

This is where ‘eerie’ got real: about a month later, it was February 27, 2026…the day I turned in my laptop and badge and walked away from a familiar and comfortable space I have known for more than 30 years. It was eerie to have clarity of purpose (why) but not clarity of process (how). As a senior tech leader, I know the strain operational friction can have on people: it can create a mental gridlock that suffocates forward progress.

I have coached people and teams alike through this kind of freefall: pause… break down the desired outcomes, connect it to your why, identify what you can do (and who/what else you need to do it), define re-evaluation checkpoints, write it down and share it, then refine and engage the plan (use the re-evaluation checkpoints to confirm you’re on the right track). Simple… somehow doing this for myself took more effort than I thought.

Having clarity of purpose without clarity of process creates a unique kind of mental vertigo. When you (or your deeply committed but overwhelmed team) are caught in a tailspin like this, what daily routines do you implement to help stabilize and rebuild momentum?

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