I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag but there are several things that Stan does that you can do to help improve your writing, starting today. I’m a lifelong fan of Stan’s and I think he wouldn’t mind sharing some of the tricks he’s learned over the past fifty years to create such memorable characters.

Let’s start at the beginning; you can’t be a Stan Lee hero or heroine without an incredible origin story. All of Stan’s heroes have a fascinating origin story that serves as the foundation for their long careers. Stan creates three dimensional characters. He does this by creating a hero that we might know. In the early 1960’s, our country was involved in a war half way across the globe with people we really didn’t know. Stan took this backdrop and created heroes that could have come right out of the news. Real people that tragic things happen to but they overcome the challenges to become heroes. Iron Man is kept alive by an electronic heart, without which he would die. Spiderman fails to save his Uncle Ben and he commits his life to helping others. Of course, none of these heroes would be complete without their own share of problems and inadequacies. This is one of his best kept secrets, because his characters seem so alive to the reader. We want our heroes to be real and flawed. Perfect characters have limited long term appeal to their readers.
Stan’s characters also have to deal with situations we have all had to deal with like girls, tests, learning how to drive, and how to hide your secret identity from well meaning parents and authorities. They are faced with choosing between good and evil, but on a slightly larger scale than we do in our daily lives. One of the things we find great comfort in is their predictability. We know that Captain America will do what’s right even at times when it’s not so easy for us to decide what the right is. Cap loses his friend Bucky and he doubles down to get the bad guys. We get angry, he gets angry. He has a full set of emotions that he can take us through. We feel connected because he seems real.
Many of Stan’s heroines are flawed women. They are flawed in a way that society finds unacceptable but also has redeeming qualities that we find attractive in a person of the opposite sex. She’s tough but she knows how to take care of things in the way that we’re cheering for her in the end. She is a multifaceted character who both attracts and intrigues at the same time, a black widow.

The final thing these characters do is simplify things. The real challenge for a writer is to use little clues that that add up to big characters. We want to feel like we know them because they are us. They help us bring out the hero in who we are and we want to know that things will turn out right. This doesn’t mean our stories don’t have a certain level of complexity but they are written for our enjoyment and our fantasy.

The final blog of this series next week will discuss how these key elements combine with dialog, conflict and transitions to make these stories become a big part of our lives. We will also talk about why characters can help your writing and help you get more people involved in your own stories and causes.

Now you know the pressure I was under to produce a great blog sharing some of the secrets that Stan Lee has used to keep people involved in his heroes and their stories for over 50 years. There’s nothing worse than a big green Hulk looking over your shoulder as you try to share the secrets of his and The Avengers’ longevity. All the time I spent with Nick Fury in Washington has paid unexpected dividends over the past several days.

The Avengers had a record opening weekend with over $200 million in ticket sales. What can we learn from Stan Lee that would make our marketing more powerful? Stan Lee is the master of good storytelling. He’s been doing it for over 50 years and his stories are as popular today as they were 50 years ago. How does Stan do it and how can we apply some of his storytelling magic to our organizations to create better opportunities?

I believe there are three keys to Stan Lee’s storytelling success. Let me share what I’ve learned from Stan Lee and how it applies to the writing we do for our organizations and causes.

Key 1 – Include drama. The first key of Stan’s success is to include drama. What is drama? Drama is the context in which your message is placed. Drama is the secret of a good story. Most good drama is driven by conflict. Good versus evil, light versus dark, overwhelming situations that would challenge anyone. Drama sets up the story by grabbing your attention at the very beginning and doesn’t let go until the end of the story.

In good storytelling, there are usually several conflicts in the story. The more, the better. In Stan’s stories there are always subplots to keep your attention during slow times in the story. In most cases, these small hooks allow us to choose sides, see ourselves in the characters, and sometime allow us to release ourselves from our daily activities.

Good drama is important to your story because without out it, people won’t come back for more. As a salesperson, I know it might take several calls before a client decides to buy from me. In good storytelling, you want people to read you often and share it with their friends and family. A good story will be easy enough to share but have enough twists and turns that it makes people want to share it with their friends. Don’t be afraid to give a little more detail and maybe even embellish the facts a little. People are not moved by small ideas and lack of detail.

If you’re still reading it means that you are looking to become a better communicator. I believe that in the past we could get away with mediocre writers and still get people to read our stories. With people seeing thousands of messages every day, we must learn to change if we hope to compete for our stakeholders minds. Today, everyone is in the entertainment business and we must teach as well as entertain. If your marketing tries to compete with the facts only, you’ll be lucky if someone reads you once and may never read you again. So, take time to think out your story before you start writing. Look for interesting bits of information about your situation. Learn to look at things from the point of view of your reader not from your point of view. Because we are so exposed to our own situations, we sometimes fail to share it in a way that it’s new or exciting to our readers. Share details that help people understand the situation, but don’t fill in all the details. Allow the readers’ imagination to be an active participant in the storytelling.

Now that I’ve covered the first of Stan Lee’s storytelling keys, drama, I’ll start covering the next element, character creation, in my next blog. This key helps you draw your best stakeholders into your story and they won’t even know you did it. Learning how to create great characters is the next step to make your writing more memorable. But you already know this, because I know where you hide your stash of comic books in your office.

The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo! Ben Adhem’s name led all the rest.

Happy birthday, Pops.

Before going any farther, it’s important to state up front that I am not an attorney and nothing here should be construed as legal advice. If you think some of the ideas in this article are helpful, you should contact an estate planning attorney, tax professional, investment advisor, or maybe all three to see if it’s right for your situation.

The main concept I’d like to introduce is a charitable remainder trust – what is it and how does it work? First and foremost it is a legal document allowing the donor to establish a gift, gain cash flow from it for life, and deliver that gift at a later date.

This type of gift works best with a significantly appreciated asset, such as an unimproved piece of property, but it could also be stocks or other investments with a very low basis. Let’s also assume, in the case of property, that it’s generating no income for the prospective donor. If the donor wanted to sell the property conventionally, he or she would be hit with substantial capital gains tax.

But if the donor set up a charitable trust naming a non-profit organization as the beneficiary, the property could be deeded to that trust and three types of taxation would be avoided. First, the property would be out of the donor’s estate, so there would be no estate tax on the property at the time of his or her death. Second, as I’ve alluded, capital gains taxes would be avoided when the property is sold within the trust. Third, there would be a current year income tax deduction that could carry forward, depending upon the size of the gift.

Once the trust is established, it must pay out at least 5% of its value annually, according to IRS regulations. So in the case of a remainder trust, the donor would receive at least a 5% annual cash flow from the trust – turning what was a non-revenue producing asset into a cash stream. And, if the advisor managing the account is doing his or her job, the account should average better that a 5% return over the life of the trust, thus giving the donor regular raises and increasing the principle for the charity at his or her death.

At the donor’s death the remainder would go to the named charity. Such a trust can also be set up as a lead trust such that a charity receives the 5% or greater cash flow, while the remainder goes to the donor’s heirs at his or her death. There are many creative ways to set up such trusts but the bottom line is that everyone wins, and it just goes to show that it’s better to give AND receive! For charities themselves, it just might be worth reviewing their memberships to identify potential charitable trust candidates.

Eric Nager is an Investment Advisor Representative with Southern Capital Services. He received his MBA from the University of South Alabama and a Masters in History from Harvard. Mr. Nager is a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army Reserve and has been with Southern Capital for the past 12 years. He can be reached at eric@southerncapitalservices.com or at 251.626.1140

Especially hard hit are non-profit charities. With financial belt tightening required within most households, charitable giving is sometimes one of the first budget items that families cut. To make matters worse for those who benefit from charities, government spending will likely be reigned back mightily at both the federal and state levels in an attempt to shore up deficit spending.

It is for exactly these reasons that our firm would like to see charities thrive. In most cases they are better positioned than the government to help those in need, anyway. And for the United States, as one of the most generous nations in the world, a robust non-profit sector speaks well for our values as a nation.

Our Investment Advisory firm, Southern Capital Services, is celebrating its 30th year in business this year. During that time we have helped individual investors and businesses navigate the wild investment waters of the past decade. We can help non-profits in the same manner so that they can continue to be able to perform their vital missions.

What do we see on the economic horizon for this year? There are several influences working against each other and it is uncertain which will prevail. First, on the positive side, this is a presidential election year and the government has historically tried to stimulate the economy prior to the election. Second, corporate earnings have started to rebound, and third, interest rates continue to remain low to make lending easier.

On the flip side of the coin, the European economic crisis continues to threaten the recovery from 2008. Next, China’s economy is slowing and they are now the world’s second largest. Finally, continuing the theme of a global economy, if tensions between Iran and Israel escalate into hostilities, it will likely drive the price of oil to record highs.

There are more factors that can be cited on either side and nobody has a crystal ball to see into the future or accurately time the market. Therefore our approach is to construct a diversified portfolio that will minimize volatility, or wild swings, within the market. Then we add other investments that protect against possible negative outcomes by holding assets that can appreciate in good times and tend to hold their value in bad. This approach applies to investors in the for-profit and non-profit worlds.

The bottom line is that for the long term, investors need good average compounded rates of return in order to live their dreams in retirement, in the case of an individual, or continue in their philanthropic mission in the case of a charity.

Eric Nager is an Investment Advisor Representative with Southern Capital Services. He received his MBA from the University of South Alabama and a Masters in History from Harvard. Mr. Nager is a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army Reserve and has been with Southern Capital for the past 12 years. He can be reached at eric@southerncapitalservices.com or at 251.626.1140

On Thursday this week he will present his first blog for Developing Serving Leaders. Please take time to review his biography before Thursday and read his blog. Let us know what you think. I know it will be worth your time.

Here’s a bit of Eric’s professional biography. Eric Nager is an Investment Advisor Representative with Southern Capital Services. He received his MBA from the University of South Alabama and a Masters in History from Harvard. Mr. Nager is a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army Reserve and has been with Southern Capital for the past 12 years He’s author of Checklist for Checkmate: 15 Keys to Building a Successful Team. He can be reached at eric@southerncapitalservices.com or at 251.626.1140

I’ve spent over 25 years building teams for clients and in my own organizations. I have interviewed over 17,000 individuals in my career. These interviews have included CIOs, CMOs, COOs, and managing directors for nonprofits and global Fortune 1000 organizations. I’ve made it a habit to find out what they know about picking winners and avoiding costly hiring mistakes. I would like to share the three key lessons I learned from these professionals.

I know you may be thinking this doesn’t apply to you because you have a volunteer organization. You should be evaluating volunteers that come into your organization as thoroughly as any paid staff member. The roles they fill are frequently vital to the success of your nonprofit. With nonprofits I work with, volunteers fill many of the customer facing roles. If they don’t do a good job, you can’t fire them. So, volunteer or paid, the same rules apply, because you still have to work with the people who come on board your organization.

Key #1 – Hire slowly. They take time to get to know the people they hire for their teams. They get to know the people they want to hire. They do this in many ways but they are not afraid to share honestly their shortcomings. They understand with whom they work best. It’s not always fair to the candidate but I’ve always taken the approach it’s better to dodge a bullet than take one. These people have discovered it’s much better for their organization to hire the right person than to high a poor performer and hope to develop a winner.

Key #2 – Put key objectives for both the organization and the job into a hiring profile. You need to know what you need the person to do in the role you are hiring. Once you have taken time to break down what this person needs to do to be successful in the role, you’re able to interview the candidate to better understand their level of competence in the key performance areas required for the job. I would also include in this profile what high performers in this role all possess. I call them interviewing intangibles. These intangibles might include adaptability, willing to stretch and grow, the capability to connect the dots and take action faster than others in their field. The best part of these intangibles is that they can be accurately assessed during the interview process. I suggest that you include these key interview factors in your hiring profile so you can look for these in the interviewee’s past work and life performances.

Key #3 – Look before you need to hire. The best leaders I know are always looking for great talent. One of my best bosses uncovered great talent by looking at industries that had nothing to do with ours but required similar skill sets. When we went out to lunch or dinner, he would share with me how he evaluated the talent required to be on his team. He would then interview the person waiting on us to see how they would fit into our team. He was always interviewing people this way and he then would share his findings with me when they left. At the time I thought it odd but he would always got great service. What I uncovered as I got to know him was that he was always developing and refining his own interviewing skills. He made it fun to learn how to evaluate people on the fly. He built several successful organizations over the past 30 years. He was always looking for his next great hire and consequently found them.

I know that this blog has just scratched the surface on how to hire great people for your organization. Next week, I’ll share how to create your hiring profile to help you get your next great hire. I’ll also be adding a series of blogs talking about how to raise more money for your nonprofit organization. A special guest blogger to help you with your fundraising challenges will be starting next week.

I try to model my life after a carpenter who walked the earth over two thousand years ago. He was a serving leader. Jesus didn’t have great political skills or army of followers at the time he launched his mission but he did have a powerful message that would change the world forever. He worked closely with his followers and he shared his wisdom with anyone who would listen. He picked a team of followers from across society. He may have been the first leader who recognized the power in community and the inherent value of diversity.

His followers included many of his society’s least desirables and the unclean. The stories about him leave little doubt that he loved people. He enjoyed his time while he was here but understood how challenging it was to go against manmade power structures. He understood how hard it was to make change happen across society. He strove to help others make lasting change. He understood that even the best people backslide, no matter how committed they might be to a cause. He loved them always.

He taught the lesson of inclusion and belonging. This may have alienated many of his family and friends who believed they were called to a unique position in the world. This stand against organized religions is still talked about throughout the world.

He chose not to judge others and felt love was more powerful than hate. He came from a highly structured culture but chose to share an intimate view of his Holy Father. His belief that God was approachable changed how people viewed God across many cultures.

When you study the times in which Jesus lived you uncover a very violent time in mankind’s history. He was the not the first man that the Romans crucified or would he be the last. Many of his early followers would meet a similar fate. He chose to preach love and not overthrow. Many historians believed that this is why many abandoned his early church.

Jesus came from a culture that preached an eye for an eye and this would leave many people blind. Jesus focused on serving in others, forgiveness, and love to be his lasting legacy. These simple ideas would create a movement that has helped changed the world for over 2000 years.

For my friends and fellow serving leaders across the globe I wanted to take time to wish you a Happy Easter from Tricia and I.

Next week I will return to discuss how to attract, build, develop and retain your nonprofit teams. See you then.

One of the major success factors for your nonprofit is your people. In Jim Collin’s book, “Good to Great,” he spends significant time on your people. In his booklet, “Good to Great and the Social Sectors,” he calls them resources. I’ll share what I’ve uncovered over the years of working with successful organizations around the world. Some of my clients are social sector businesses and some are not. The greatest commonality I can find among all the great organizations is that they get that people part of process.

People provide you the greatest joy and the great challenge when it comes to building a breakthrough organization. Now, how do you get the right people doing the right things at the right time? This sounds simple, right? The first key element is to assess your current team. Look at what they currently do and in what they should be investing their time. During this process, you must understand what you want your people to do. They must be clear on what is expected of them, and how it fits into the overall success of the organization. Now the challenging part is they must not only have the capability to do what’s needed, but they must also become excellent at it. Nonprofits today are trying to leverage their resources to the greatest extent possible. In the case of nonprofits, this also includes volunteers, part time professional help, and partner organizations. All these people must clearly understand what is expected of them and how they are part of a larger organization. I’m often surprised how often these critical elements of your team are left out of major conversations. For many of us, they may be the only person our patrons and members interact with on a normal basis. I’m sure you’ve had the experience of having visitors onsite and the only person available to talk with them is one of your non-customer facing volunteers. There is an uncomfortable silence while the visitors wait for the help that never comes.

Having the people in the right place is critical to your organization’s success. It also means creating opportunities for people to use their own strengths and life experiences to make their time with your organization an enjoyable experience. We want our teams to love their work and we want them to be good at it. Clearly defined roles allow people to get good at what they do, incorporating their strengths into their role can help make them great. As leaders, we’re responsible for developing our team’s capabilities. We can create greater interest in working with nonprofits by providing ongoing training and mentoring for employees and volunteers. The time you invest in people will pay off in both better performance and in providing significant capabilities to your team.

I will share my thinking next week talking about hiring, developing, and retaining great team members. This is a critical element in helping to take your organization to the next level. I’ve interviewed over 16,000 senior leaders across the globe and have some great tips and ideas to make sure you make your next hire a great one. See you next week.

Because of this, I think it’s critical that as leaders we remind ourselves why we do what we do. For many of you, this is a reminder of what you’re currently doing. The problem I’ve seen is that many serving leaders are so challenged on a daily basis they have limited time to create a lasting organization.

I use Jim Collin’s Good to Great Framework to put a common foundation under all of our discussions. There are many leadership models available for us to use but I find the simpler the better. I believe this is one of the reasons Jim’s book sales have exceeded several million copies. The other thought I’d share is if you haven’t read Good to Great, go out and pick up a copy. It’s a great investment and provides you with significantly more information on how to do the things we talk about here on the blog. I was exposed to the Jim’s thinking over a decade ago and it shapes the way I see organizations.

My favorite Jim Collins quote is, “Greatness in not a function of circumstance.” Greatness, it turns out is largely a conscious choice, and discipline. Today that message is more critical than ever before. We are overwhelmed by situations, character challenges and being over communicated to on a regular basis. Leaders who want to provide value to their communities must continue to provide direction while engaging in willful, decisive leadership. The only thing worse than an organization that fails because of lack of courage is one that fails because of lack of purposeful action. Not that I feel strongly about this.

What are you deeply passionate about? As a man with many different passions, I can understand how easy it is to get sidetracked on a regular basis. Many of my better clients have more passions than I do. In the past that may have been okay but today, too many passions lead to diffused messages in the marketplace. When you think about you passions, in what direction to you want to lead your organization? For many new leaders, it’s the first question that must be asked if you hope to lead your team to become a breakthrough organization.

Passions come in many forms but to be an extraordinary organization you must choose what you want to be known for. It must be an active choice and must represent what you and your organization believe because you might need to share it with others who want to join your cause. People are not moved by whispers but by a message that moves them to their soul. In our social media driven world people receive over 30,000 messages every day. Because of all this competition for our attention we have learned to tune out messages without passion and can self select what messages we hear on a conscious level.

We have always put a high level of weight on social proof but today we can find out anything on just about anybody within five minutes using a simple Google search. Your choices on what you share and like tell us how we should approach you, where you are, and connect with you on a personal level. Little things take on significant meaning when you are overwhelmed by others barrage of low cost messaging systems. You must be able to share your passions in a concise manner and in a way that allows others with similar passions to find you. Shared passions play a larger and larger role in your organization’s success. Give me a small band of men and women with passion and I can change the world. In later blogs, we are going to share more how to do this, but for now just remember to start with your passions and purpose in mind.

Our next blog will help you identify your organization’s strengths and how to leverage them to build a great organization. See you next week.