Just Say No: Setting Priorities and Managing Up

As the "thank you" people, the concierge, and the yeomen of development, we are not in the business of “no”; yet, there are times when we find ourselves in spaces where we can’t honestly say "yes." During this roundtable, we will talk through moments when we felt we could not say "yes," examine shared issues, and create best practices to build on. The takeaways will be to create healthy boundaries to avoid being overwhelmed by requests from a colleague, accommodating the “yes” and keeping to your schedule, and how to navigate a "no" conversation without losing the trust and partnership of your front line and other colleagues.

About the Presenter:

Brandon Braud
Donor Relations Officer
Tulane University
[email protected]

Brandon Braud is a Donor Relations Officer in the office of Advancement at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. His chops as a donor relations professional come from a fusion of successful years as a concierge, capital campaign team member, program manager, producer, and events manager. But there is another side to him: for 20-plus years, Brandon has also worked—full-time job or volunteer—as a social justice advocate. During his tenure at the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) national office in Washington DC, he founded (and for 5 years managed) a successful outreach program in support of the LGBTQ community on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). He would soon develop programming for training administration, faculty, and staff on creating a better campus climate—inclusive of all students for higher education institutions. As the Diversity manager, he led the charge for a staff-wide mandatory diversity and inclusion summit for the organization to deepen their work of equality for underrepresented populations of the community.

 

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