August 2025 Observations

Dear Tangelo Tree Community,

I've been in four strategy retreats the past two weeks. (Sidebar - what a strange August...this month is typically blacked out and is impossible to get large groups of folks together; we had one retreat with a national org that required travel for most, and 24 of 25 board members were present!)

I spent some time one Sunday morning with my notes from across all four retreats, and with some really good coffee, because the weekend is for pour-over. ☕

Here's what I'm seeing across the Tangelo Tree Consulting portfolio:

🍊 The need and opportunity to position, and possibly reframe, the work of our sector as serving the great big collective. "Whose problem is this to solve? It's all of ours!"

🍊 When dealing with uncertainty, "the best strategy is multiple strategies."

🍊 Increased appetite for cultivating the new relationships we need to develop today in order to work in the partnerships we'll need tomorrow.

🍊 Recognition that incremental progress is important as part of efforts to make broader changes in the ecosystem.  

🍊 Bravely facing the question: “What's the most important thing not getting done that we can do?”

How do these observations resonate within your own organization, or within those of your clients?

Who in your network can you connect with to undertake exploration of what it looks like to create impact in this moment, and (perhaps) beyond the bounds of individual organizations?

Let us at Tangelo Tree be one source - reply to this email or use our contact form to start the conversation.

Michael Anderson

Founder and Lead Consultant