July 29, 2025 • 7 mins
John Kundtz introduces his new book, "The Five-Step Not-for-Profit Strategy Blueprint," designed to help executive directors strengthen collaboration, governance, and growth.
This interview-style review examines how nonprofits can transform strategic planning from static documents into dynamic processes that drive meaningful impact through stakeholder-centered design thinking.
- The "epiphany bridge" concept shifts focus from internal guessing to stakeholder co-creation
- Design thinking's double diamond framework guides teams through problem exploration before solution development
- Five implementation steps: empathy to insight, walking in stakeholders' shoes, need to success statements, launch and adapt, and driving results
- The "cupcake roadmap" approach starts with small pilots before scaling to larger initiatives
- Common traps include one-and-done planning, ignoring stakeholder voices, overestimating capacity, and "strategic silence"
- AI can serve as a co-pilot in summarizing feedback, clustering insights, and suggesting KPIs
How will you start planning for a brighter future, maybe even starting today?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everyone, john Kunz here, host of the Disruptor
podcast.
I just released a new book inthe Disruptor's Not-for-Profit
Leadership Excellence Series.
The book is called theFive-Step Not-for-Profit
Strategy Blueprint.
It's designed to help executivedirectors strengthen
collaboration, governance andgrowth.
(00:22):
For something different, Iasked Notebook LM to review my
book and share a short summaryin their interview style.
I hope you enjoy this editionof Board Rebound.
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
You know that feeling right.
You've sat through countlessstrategic planning meetings, big
ideas flying around, only forthat polished plan to end up, as
well, what we call shelfwarejust gathering dust, not really
driving impact, Right, yeah?
So today we're digging intothat.
We're taking a deep dive intoJohn M Kuntz's the Five-Step
(01:06):
Nonprofit Strategy Blueprint.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Exactly, and our mission really is to give you a
playbook, something proven,something that shifts strategy
from just a document to a livingprocess, something dynamic.
It's about collaboration,better governance, real growth.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
And making sure it actually lines up with what
stakeholders need, preciselyAligning the mission with their
actual expressed needs.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
It actually lines up with what stakeholders need,
precisely Aligning the missionwith their actual expressed
needs, not just what we thinkthey need.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So what triggered this kind of thinking?
I mean, I've been there thatsort of deja vu in planning
meetings.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
And you might remember hearing about things
like Project Sedona, thatcorporate story where a team got
totally stuck.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Tell me more.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
They focused internally, you know, on the
tech, the cool stuff, but theymissed the mark on what clients
were actually looking for.
It kind of stalled everything.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
That's a perfect example and it leads right into
this idea of the epiphany bridge, that moment of realization.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Okay, the epiphany bridge.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yeah, it's that fundamental shift.
You stop guessing internallyand you start centering
everything on the userexperience, on stakeholder
co-creation.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Pro-creation involving them directly.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Exactly.
It's not just a minoradjustment, it's the
breakthrough.
It turns those static plansinto something alive, something
impactful.
They saw this work reallyclearly in a nonprofit pilot
back in 2020.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
OK, so how do we actually build that bridge?
What's the structure?
You mentioned a framework.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Right.
The foundation is designthinking, specifically the
double diamond framework.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
It's a double diamond .
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Think of it as the engine.
It pulls you out of that shelfwhere trap.
It guides teams through twocycles diverge, then converge
twice diverge and converge,expand, then focus.
You got it.
The first diamond is aboutexploring the problem space,
really opening things upunderstanding all the angles
(02:55):
before you narrow down anddefine the actual core challenge
.
You don't jump to conclusionsExactly.
Then the second diamond isabout generating solutions
creatively, brain swallowingwide again before you converge
again, picking the best ideasthrough testing, prototyping,
iteration.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Can you give an example?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Sure, think about that nonprofit working with, say
, disconnected students.
Instead of just defaulting to,let's add more programs.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Right the usual response.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
They use this approach.
They really listened,understood the students journeys
and realized the real needwasn't just more stuff, but
creating connected pathways.
It reframed their whole mission.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
That makes sense and you said this framework supports
a more agile approach, shortercycles.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Yes, absolutely Break strategy down, which sounds
great, but how do you do it?
That's where Koen's five stepscome in.
Okay, let's walk through themStep one.
Step one is empathy to insight.
This is crucial.
It starts with mappingstakeholders who are they really
?
And defining a super clearchallenge statement, the anchor
(03:55):
for everything else.
Totally, it forces you to movefrom just assumptions about
people to understanding theiractual lived experiences.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
And step two builds on that.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
It does.
Step two is walk in their shoes.
Here you use empathy maps.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Empathy maps says does thinks, feels, those ones.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
That's the one.
It's a powerful way tosystematically uncover those
hidden frictions.
You know the unspokenmotivations and frustrations.
What are they really thinkingand feeling?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
OK, so we've mapped them, we've empathized.
Now what?
How does that become strategy?
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Good question.
Step three is need to succeed.
This is where you distill allthose insights into really crisp
opportunity statements Makingit actionable, really crisp
opportunity statements.
Making it actionable Exactly,and there's a template.
The persona needs a way to dosomething specific so that they
achieve a desired outcome.
Simple, but it keeps youfocused on the need.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
I like that Ties everything back.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Then, step four, launch and adapt.
Now you brainstorm the bigideas, but you don't just pick
randomly, you use aprioritization grid.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Value versus feasibility, I assume.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
You got it.
Plotting ideas based on howmuch value they offer versus how
feasible they are to implementhelps you make smart choices,
and you mentioned AI earlier.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, can AI help here?
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Definitely Think of generative AI as a co-pilot.
It can help summarizestakeholder feedback, cluster
quotes for empathy mapping, evenbrainstorm initial ideas or
suggest KPIs later on.
Freeze up the humans for theinsight part.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
And you mentioned something about cupcakes a
cupcake roadmap.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Ha.
Yes, that ties into step fourand five.
It's about low-risk testingInstead of building the whole
giant waiting cake first.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Which might be the wrong cake.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Might be the wrong cake.
Start with a cupcake A small,quick, pilot version of your
idea.
Get feedback fast, learn, adapt.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
I love that analogy.
So step five brings it alltogether.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Step five drive results.
This uses an agile-basedroadmap built on that whole cake
experience idea.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Cupcakes, birthday cakes, wedding cakes.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Exactly, cupcakes are your quick wins.
Birthday cakes are medium-sizedinitiatives, wedding cakes are
the big, long-term strategicpushes.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
It avoids that old, rigid waterfall approach where
you plan everything up front andjust hope it works, much more
adaptive.
But look, even with a blueprintlike this, things can go wrong.
What are the common traps?
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Oh, definitely Big one is the one-and-done strategy
trap.
You make the plan, it looksgreat.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
And then it goes on the shelf Back to square one.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Precisely.
Another is skipping thestakeholder voice, relying on
assumptions instead of realinput Fatal.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Also probably underestimating execution
capacity, trying to do too much.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Huge one, biting off more than you can chew.
And related to that is notsaying no enough.
Strategy is about choices.
If you're not saying no to somethings, you're not really being
strategic.
Kuntz calls it strategicsilence.
It's a killer.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Strategic silence.
That's powerful, not making thehard choices.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
It really underscores that strategy isn't a document
you create once.
It's a practice, it's ongoingand you know what.
You don't need to be perfect.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Just purposeful.
Exactly, be purposeful.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
So the message is really just start Let the people
you serve, your beneficiaries,be your compass.
That's how you cultivate realimpact.
Maybe the question for everyonelistening is how will you start
planning for a brighter future,maybe even starting today?
Hi everyone, john Kunz here, host of the Disruptor
podcast.
I just released a new book inthe Disruptor's Not-for-Profit
Leadership Excellence Series.
The book is called theFive-Step Not-for-Profit
Strategy Blueprint.
It's designed to help executivedirectors strengthen
collaboration, governance andgrowth.
(00:22):
For something different, Iasked Notebook LM to review my
book and share a short summaryin their interview style.
I hope you enjoy this editionof Board Rebound.
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
You know that feeling right.
You've sat through countlessstrategic planning meetings, big
ideas flying around, only forthat polished plan to end up, as
well, what we call shelfwarejust gathering dust, not really
driving impact, Right, yeah?
So today we're digging intothat.
We're taking a deep dive intoJohn M Kuntz's the Five-Step
(01:06):
Nonprofit Strategy Blueprint.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Exactly, and our mission really is to give you a
playbook, something proven,something that shifts strategy
from just a document to a livingprocess, something dynamic.
It's about collaboration,better governance, real growth.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
And making sure it actually lines up with what
stakeholders need, preciselyAligning the mission with their
actual expressed needs.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
It actually lines up with what stakeholders need,
precisely Aligning the missionwith their actual expressed
needs, not just what we thinkthey need.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So what triggered this kind of thinking?
I mean, I've been there thatsort of deja vu in planning
meetings.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
And you might remember hearing about things
like Project Sedona, thatcorporate story where a team got
totally stuck.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Tell me more.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
They focused internally, you know, on the
tech, the cool stuff, but theymissed the mark on what clients
were actually looking for.
It kind of stalled everything.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
That's a perfect example and it leads right into
this idea of the epiphany bridge, that moment of realization.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Okay, the epiphany bridge.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yeah, it's that fundamental shift.
You stop guessing internallyand you start centering
everything on the userexperience, on stakeholder
co-creation.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Pro-creation involving them directly.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Exactly.
It's not just a minoradjustment, it's the
breakthrough.
It turns those static plansinto something alive, something
impactful.
They saw this work reallyclearly in a nonprofit pilot
back in 2020.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
OK, so how do we actually build that bridge?
What's the structure?
You mentioned a framework.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Right.
The foundation is designthinking, specifically the
double diamond framework.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
It's a double diamond .
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Think of it as the engine.
It pulls you out of that shelfwhere trap.
It guides teams through twocycles diverge, then converge
twice diverge and converge,expand, then focus.
You got it.
The first diamond is aboutexploring the problem space,
really opening things upunderstanding all the angles
(02:55):
before you narrow down anddefine the actual core challenge
.
You don't jump to conclusionsExactly.
Then the second diamond isabout generating solutions
creatively, brain swallowingwide again before you converge
again, picking the best ideasthrough testing, prototyping,
iteration.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Can you give an example?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Sure, think about that nonprofit working with, say
, disconnected students.
Instead of just defaulting to,let's add more programs.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Right the usual response.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
They use this approach.
They really listened,understood the students journeys
and realized the real needwasn't just more stuff, but
creating connected pathways.
It reframed their whole mission.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
That makes sense and you said this framework supports
a more agile approach, shortercycles.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Yes, absolutely Break strategy down, which sounds
great, but how do you do it?
That's where Koen's five stepscome in.
Okay, let's walk through themStep one.
Step one is empathy to insight.
This is crucial.
It starts with mappingstakeholders who are they really
?
And defining a super clearchallenge statement, the anchor
(03:55):
for everything else.
Totally, it forces you to movefrom just assumptions about
people to understanding theiractual lived experiences.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
And step two builds on that.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
It does.
Step two is walk in their shoes.
Here you use empathy maps.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Empathy maps says does thinks, feels, those ones.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
That's the one.
It's a powerful way tosystematically uncover those
hidden frictions.
You know the unspokenmotivations and frustrations.
What are they really thinkingand feeling?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
OK, so we've mapped them, we've empathized.
Now what?
How does that become strategy?
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Good question.
Step three is need to succeed.
This is where you distill allthose insights into really crisp
opportunity statements Makingit actionable, really crisp
opportunity statements.
Making it actionable Exactly,and there's a template.
The persona needs a way to dosomething specific so that they
achieve a desired outcome.
Simple, but it keeps youfocused on the need.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
I like that Ties everything back.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Then, step four, launch and adapt.
Now you brainstorm the bigideas, but you don't just pick
randomly, you use aprioritization grid.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Value versus feasibility, I assume.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
You got it.
Plotting ideas based on howmuch value they offer versus how
feasible they are to implementhelps you make smart choices,
and you mentioned AI earlier.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, can AI help here?
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Definitely Think of generative AI as a co-pilot.
It can help summarizestakeholder feedback, cluster
quotes for empathy mapping, evenbrainstorm initial ideas or
suggest KPIs later on.
Freeze up the humans for theinsight part.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
And you mentioned something about cupcakes a
cupcake roadmap.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Ha.
Yes, that ties into step fourand five.
It's about low-risk testingInstead of building the whole
giant waiting cake first.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Which might be the wrong cake.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Might be the wrong cake.
Start with a cupcake A small,quick, pilot version of your
idea.
Get feedback fast, learn, adapt.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
I love that analogy.
So step five brings it alltogether.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Step five drive results.
This uses an agile-basedroadmap built on that whole cake
experience idea.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Cupcakes, birthday cakes, wedding cakes.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Exactly, cupcakes are your quick wins.
Birthday cakes are medium-sizedinitiatives, wedding cakes are
the big, long-term strategicpushes.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
It avoids that old, rigid waterfall approach where
you plan everything up front andjust hope it works, much more
adaptive.
But look, even with a blueprintlike this, things can go wrong.
What are the common traps?
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Oh, definitely Big one is the one-and-done strategy
trap.
You make the plan, it looksgreat.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
And then it goes on the shelf Back to square one.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Precisely.
Another is skipping thestakeholder voice, relying on
assumptions instead of realinput Fatal.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Also probably underestimating execution
capacity, trying to do too much.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Huge one, biting off more than you can chew.
And related to that is notsaying no enough.
Strategy is about choices.
If you're not saying no to somethings, you're not really being
strategic.
Kuntz calls it strategicsilence.
It's a killer.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Strategic silence.
That's powerful, not making thehard choices.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
It really underscores that strategy isn't a document
you create once.
It's a practice, it's ongoingand you know what.
You don't need to be perfect.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Just purposeful.
Exactly, be purposeful.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
So the message is really just start Let the people
you serve, your beneficiaries,be your compass.
That's how you cultivate realimpact.
Maybe the question for everyonelistening is how will you start
planning for a brighter future,maybe even starting today?
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