Guest post by Jay Readey, executive director, Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law 

On Sunday, October 30, 2011, 150 NGen participants broke bread over a delicious lunch with 40 NGen Ambassadors. NGen Ambassadors are established nonprofit and philanthropic leaders who volunteer to engage and mentor NGen leaders during the 2011 Independent Sector Annual Conference. NGen Ambassadors who attended the lunch included many of the power players in the industry: Diana Aviv, Susan Beresford (formerly of Ford Foundation, now at New York Community Trust), Barbara Arnwine of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, Roberto Soro at USC, Bernie Milano of the KPMG Foundation and many others - including U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, James Joseph.

During this progressive lunch, Ambassador James Joseph addressed the group about the need for leadership to reconcile the past with the future, and the hopes that the sector can help move the country away from its level of inequality, citing it is the socities with the most inequality that most often fail. Touching on diversity and selfhood, Ambassador Joseph stressed leadership as being a way of life.  He challenged all of the leaders in the room, NGen and Ambassadors alike, to be part of the leadership change that can make a difference in America and the world, ending with the quote, “The gift of hope is as big as the gift of life itself.”

With these words serving as backdrop, NGen leaders and Ambassadors engaged in a dynamic conversation which included questions such as:
- What interests or excites you about the work you do?
- What do you aspire to accomplish?
- What are the barriers you see for the sector and its impact? 
- What are the trends or issues we should be paying attention to as a sector?

Among the discussions I participated in, we discussed the trends and issues the nonprofit and philanthropic sector should be paying attention to in the sector. In particular, we talked about the Super Committee on the Hill and its challenge regarding the charitable deduction.

For my final progressive luncheon conversation, we discussed whether the leadership imperatives, skills and requirements for the nonprofit sector are the same or different as those for other sectors.  As I contimplated that question, our table was encougaged by our Ambassadors to to make opportunities for ourselves by finding the places where change is happening. One thing is for sure - the NGen Ambassador Lunch was a great place to start.