As Executive Director of The Veterans Consortium (TVC), Edmund “Ed” Glabus shares his perspective on leadership
During Ed’s tenure, TVC has been inducted into the Catalogue for Philanthropy as “One of the Best” charities, has been recognized as “Best in America” with the annual Seal of Approval by America’s Most Cost-Effective Charities, and has been awarded an Equal Justice Works grant to fund a two-year project meeting the legal needs of veterans impacted by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injuries (TBI).
Bringing over two decades of senior leadership experience to his role, Ed works with TVC’s Board of Directors, mission partners, headquarters staff and a nationwide volunteer corps of more than 2,500 attorneys and related pro bono professionals, building the capacity and capabilities of TVC to meet the needs of veterans and their families, caregivers, and survivors.
Tell us about your leadership style and how this contributes to your organization’s success.
As a veteran, I can sum up my leadership style as “leadership by example.” To me, this means
- don’t ask your team to do anything you wouldn’t do yourself
- always model the behavior you’d like to see in others, and
- find out what the team really needs to be successful in their jobs
I think that this leadership style, plus providing professional development opportunities for our team, empowers our staff to provide more clients quality pro bono legal services—the best way for us to succeed.
What advice would you offer for other nonprofit leaders?
I would recommend that nonprofit leaders not be afraid to ask for advice and help. Although it’s not efficient to do everything by committee, “none of us is as smart as all of us,” and the solution to some very difficult challenges can come from the most surprising sources in our professional and personal networks.
What does this award mean for you and your organization?
Being selected as a finalist for the Center for Nonprofit Advancement’s EXCEL award provides an excellent opportunity to sing the praises of our stakeholders, our board, our staff, and especially our volunteer attorneys, paralegals, and related pro bono professionals. In addition to recognizing our team’s successes, winning the EXCEL award would provide even more validation of our operations and results. I believe it would be a mark of our program’s quality as we conduct outreach to veterans and their loved ones, mission partners and new volunteers.