ABOUT THIS EPISODE
There’s a sentence Amanda Elder says almost every executive director is thinking, but nobody actually says out loud.
Amanda leads Frontier Community Services in rural Alaska. Kim Champney leads the state’s disability provider association. In this half of their conversation, they get honest about something most leadership content skips past entirely: what it actually feels like to run an organization when you don’t have all the answers, and what you say to your own team when the numbers stop adding up.
You’ll hear how a housing crisis and an aging population are colliding into a math problem no provider association can out-strategize its way through. You’ll hear why one of these leaders finally stopped pretending she wasn’t overwhelmed, and the one sentence that changed how she carries it. And partway through, host Nate Beers steps out from behind the mic to share something he wasn’t planning to say either.
If you’ve ever felt like you’re supposed to have it all together and don’t, this one’s for you.
🔗 Frontier Community Services — https://www.fcsonline.org/
🔗 Alaska Association on Developmental Disabilities (AADD) — https://aaddalaska.org/
📥 Free resource — 7 Warning Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Staff: iddleader.com/burnout
TIMESTAMPS
00:16 – What Amanda says every executive director is thinking
01:35 – The workforce problem no provider can out-strategize
02:27 – Why the numbers in Alaska "just don't add up"
04:08 – Rethinking what independence actually looks like
06:36 – Inside the scheduling model built for burned-out DSPs
09:19 – When 24/7 care isn't actually what someone needs
10:42 – The pilot project that let leaders "dream ten big dreams"
14:38 – Giving yourself permission to not have all the answers
16:34 – The moment one leader realized she'd become the problem
18:59 – The quote that changed how Amanda carries being overwhelmed
19:35 – Nate shares something he wasn't planning to say
24:49 – The sentence no executive director is allowed to say
26:19 – An old cartoon's lesson about failure and success
28:35 – What both leaders refuse to give up on
Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: LFMLKJE1CAKMAIL3
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