Reflections on the ProInspire Impact Accelerator

By Leland Holcomb, 2017 Impact Accelerator participant

Burgeoning professionals wishing to enter, or expand their reach within, the social sector face a landscape that is exciting and full of opportunity, but also one that is competitive, ambiguous, and uncertain. Effectively unlocking this opportunity, particularly for those entering from other sectors, requires knowledge of the social sector landscape, the makeup of social organizations, and the skill sets that are in demand. To that end, achieving some degree of clarity and insight into these areas was the central focus of participants in ProInspire’s Impact Accelerator — a focus that I think was well served by the composition and execution of the two-day program held last month in San Francisco.

For my own personal career goals, the ProInspire Impact Accelerator gave me an open and honest environment in which to reflect on my recent experience living and working in India and to strategize amongst my peers. Through open dialogue, exercises, and coursework on the organizations underpinning the social sector, I was able to refine my approach to my job search and better understand how to leverage and present my skills and experience. While I was reticent coming into this experience out of fear that it would be overly wishy-washy (for lack of a better term), in practice I found the Impact Accelerator kept a tight focus on tangible outcomes and thus allowed participants to mold our discussions and action items based on individual need. This is both the most difficult to execute, and I believe critical, aspect of an accelerator program, and ProInspire was very successful on that front.

I am thankful that I took the time to come to out to San Francisco for the Impact Accelerator; I feel as if I have made many new friends and have a clearer outlook on my own personal career development efforts. Thank you Monisha, and thank you ProInspire!

Click here for more information on ProInspire’s Impact Accelerator