Maria Vertkin couldn’t figure out why the meeting hadn’t started. Then, one of the people across the table from her looked at the clock and said, OK, we’re just waiting for your executive director.
“I took it in stride and said, ‘Actually, that’s me,' " remembers Ms. Vertkin, executive director of Found in Translation, a nonprofit that trains low-income bilingual women to become medical interpreters.
The incident occurred when she was 25 and had just started the charity. Misunderstandings like that weren’t unusual, she says, especially at the beginning: “It was at times a little bit discouraging because I really was stretching myself to fill this new role.”
Ms. Vertkin isn’t alone. As the leaders on The Chronicle’s 40 Under 40 list wracked up significant accomplishments early in their careers, many of them encountered skepticism — and sometimes outright resistance — from people who didn’t take them seriously because of their age.
Here they offer advice on how ambitious young professionals can win over the doubters and also share what they think seasoned nonprofit leaders need to do to harness the energy and passion of younger employees.
Proving Yourself
Pick a role model.
As Ms. Vertkin found her footing, she emulated the founder of the last organization where she had worked, someone whose presence and leadership style she greatly admired.
“When I was going to meetings or speaking to an audience, I would try to channel her vibe: How would she walk into the room? How would she say this?” she says. “After awhile, I grew into the role, and it stopped being awkward.”
Look for multiple mentors.
Monisha Kapila, founder of ProInspire, a nonprofit leadership group, recommends that young professionals assemble a personal board of advisers they can turn to with questions.
“It’s not like you’re going to find one mentor that’s going to help you in your career,” she says. “It’s a number of people who are going to help you at different points.”
Think about your presentation.
There’s nothing wrong with youthful exuberance, but early-career employees need to conduct themselves in a serious manner if they want to be taken seriously, says Jake Wood, founder of Team Rubicon, a charity that gets veterans involved in disaster relief.
“If you want to go into a meeting with a bunch of people with gray hair, you better talk and act and dress like someone in their peer group,” he says. “If you can’t do that you are going to be at a disadvantage.”
Do your homework.
The reality is that young professionals need to be more prepared going into meetings than their more seasoned colleagues, says Kate Meis, executive director of the Local Government Commission, a nonprofit that provides assistance to local governments in California on environmental issues. She recommends reviewing the list of participants, finding out their titles and organizations, and thinking through the agenda items.
“At a different point in your career, you may be able to go in and ad-lib and respond to things that come up on the spot,” she says. “But in the beginning, it helps to do the due diligence.”
Ms. Meis says being the youngest person at a meeting can be an asset rather than a liability. Just be clear on what you add to the conversation, she says: “That might be coming in with a new perspective and not being entrenched in decades of one way of doing things.”
Know the cultural expectations.
Nonprofit leaders who work in ethnic communities that stress the importance of respecting elders often have an even harder time navigating generational divides, says Vu Le.
Before Mr. Le founded Rainier Valley Corps, he was executive director of the Vietnamese Friendship Association. He remembers getting chewed out by a local leader he had asked to write a letter of support for a grant application.
“He’s like, ‘Who the hell are you? You never come to visit me. The only time I see you is when you’re asking for something,’ " says Mr. Le.
Most of the best ideas that our organization gets are coming not from the top but from the bottom.
Mr. Le went back to see the elder the next day and took some oranges.
“A little gift of fruits in our culture can go a really long way,” he says. “It makes people feel heard. It makes them feel appreciated. Then you can disagree with them, and they’ll still respect you.”
Resist the urge to go in full throttle.
Whether it’s fair or not, young people get a bad rap for being too eager and enthusiastic.
Ommeed Sathe, vice president for impact investments at Prudential Financial, says learning to hang back and let conversations come to him was something he learned at his last job, as director of real-estate development at the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority. Instead of jumping in and trying to direct meetings, he encouraged other people to share their ideas while he responded and summarized.
“It gave other people a chance to get engaged and involved, and counteracted some of that tendency of overenthusiasm,” he says.
Bring snacks.
This might also be the result of his time in New Orleans, but Mr. Sathe recommends bringing food to meetings whenever possible: “That act of breaking bread is such a nice moment to build trust and engagement before getting into whatever the issue is that needs to be addressed.”
Remember the perks.
Don’t worry so much about proving yourself that you lose sight all of the things that are great about being a young person in the nonprofit world, advises Lateefah Simon, program director at the Rosenberg Foundation.
“It is the one time in our lives we get to ask questions,” she says, “we get to be mentored, we get to say, ‘Oh my God, I’m sorry. I totally screwed that up. And I’m not going to do it again.’ "
Working With Millennials
Create lines of communication.
Older leaders need to ask younger employees what they think — and be smart about how they ask, says Ms. Meis. She recommends seeking feedback in a variety of forums, including one-on-one meetings with employees.
“The more room you can find to bring those voices to the table, the better,” she says. “It’s not going to come up in brainstorming, where there are a lot of people who have been in their careers a long time and young folks who are not as confident. You have to be a lot more intentional.”
Resist the temptation to dispense advice.
Young people have a lot to say, so seasoned leaders will have to listen a lot more than they probably want to, but the benefits of different perspectives are worth it, says David Lubbel, founder of Welcoming America, a charity that helps cities embrace immigrants.
“Most of the best ideas that our organization gets are coming not from the top but from the bottom,” he says.
Recognize the stepped-up pace of change.
Experienced leaders shouldn’t compare the way their younger employees think and act to what they did early in their careers, cautions Rachel Bjorklund, national campaign director at World Vision.
“Things are changing really, really fast,” she says. “Senior leaders have to recognize that the things that they did to become successful are not the things that will take their organizations forward into the future.”
