In the 2013 bestselling book, The Boys in the Boat, author Daniel James Brown tells the true story of nine Americans and their epic quest for the gold medal in rowing at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. As advancement and fundraising leaders, we can learn important lessons from this inspirational book featuring the sport of rowing.

The Coxswain

“The coxswain is the captain of the boat. He or she must exert control, both physical and psychological, over everything that goes on in the boat. Good coxswains know their oarsmen inside and out – their individual strengths and vulnerabilities – and they know how to get the most out of each man or woman at any given moment … In short, a good coxswain is a quarterback, a cheerleader, and a coach, all in one.”

*Good Chief Development Officers and good coxswains have a great deal in common. They can galvanize a team, maximize an individual’s strengths and minimize weaknesses, and inspire the staff to achieve common goals.

The Paradox

Brown writes, “the greatest paradox in rowing has to do with the psychological makeup of the people who pull the oars … On one hand, they possess enormous self-confidence, strong egos, and titanic willpower … And yet, at the same time no other sport demands and rewards the complete abandonment of self the way rowing does.”

*This same paradox exists with the best major gift fundraisers. They must have a strong ego and competitive drive while also being able to compartmentalize this quality for the good of the overall organization.

Swing

Brown describes an allusive thing “that sometimes happens in rowing that is hard to achieve and hard to define … It is called swing. It only happens when all eight oarsmen are rowing in such perfect unison that no single action by any one is out of sync with those of the others.

*Great advancement and fundraising teams find swing more often when they have the right leader who communicates frequently about the annual goals within the office.