There’s a big difference between eliminating short-term suffering — vs fixing the underlying issues that cause those problems in the long term. That’s an important lesson our guest this week learned in his quest to help an impoverished community near his home. Now, he’s using those lessons as he leads one of the largest nonprofits in Oregon, which is gaining national recognition. 

 

This episode is part of our holiday “giving back” episodes. This week, we’re talking with Brad Ketch. A global advocate and former tech CEO, Brad steers both grassroots and executive efforts on poverty, justice, and reconciliation initiatives, catalyzing community rebirth internationally, and now within Oregon’s poorest community, through a profound fusion of “bottom-up” and “top-down” methodologies for transformative change. He’s also the author of “The Flourishing Community.”

 

Tune into the full episode for more on why poverty is so pervasive in some areas, what regular people can do to help alleviate it, the importance of identifying with the people you want to help, ways to support Brad’s organization, more about the work they’re doing in Oregon, and more.

 

Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Learn:

 

• How Brad flipped his idea of what it takes to tackle poverty — from coming at it from a place of wealth, to directly identifying with the poor
• More about Brad’s “call to go deeper” when it came to community involvement beyond just writing a check
• The difference between eliminating human suffering and stimulating human flourishing
• What it means to “find your own Calcutta”
• The difference between relief and development
• Some of the resistance that Brad experienced after he started his organization, and where that resistance came from
• More about the “poverty industrial complex” and “poverteers”
• How the COVID pandemic ended up helping Brad’s organization continue its work at a higher level
• The difference between outcomes and outputs — and more about both, after the work from Brad’s organization
• How Brad measures success with his organization, plus how listeners can support the important work they’re doing

 

Resources Mentioned in This Episode: 

• The Flourishing Community website
• Community Development Corporation of Oregon
• Rockwood Community Development Corporation
• Brad Ketch on LinkedIn
• Community Development Corporation of Oregon on LinkedIn
• “Community: The Structure of Belonging” by Peter Block
• Buy a copy of “Lost at CEO: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Strategy” by Carl J. Cox 
• 40 Strategy
• Contact 40 Strategy
• Carl J. Cox on LinkedIn