Episode Details

There's a quiet belief running through the social impact space that being too visible somehow cheapens the work. That good organizations should let their impact speak for itself. But the orgs that get the funding, the talent, and the momentum aren't always the ones doing the best work; they're the ones who've made their work visible. This episode makes the case that visibility matters more than impact, and that staying humble is a belief most orgs can no longer afford.

Episode Highlights:

[00:00:00] Visible orgs outperform high-impact orgs 
[00:02:30] The humility trap and the "scrappy org" fallacy 
[00:03:30] Why the most funded orgs are the most visible, not the most effective 
[00:08:30] Visibility as the most underleveraged strategy in social impact 
[00:10:00] The visibility test: can people describe what you do? 
[00:17:00] Building visibility into every program from the start 
[00:25:00] From skeptic to podcast host: Jonathan's visibility journey 
[00:31:30] Using media to scale your face time with future donors

Notable Quotes:

Eric Ressler [00:01:05]: "Orgs who are consistently good at visibility outperform and are more successful, generally speaking, than orgs who are really good at impact."

Jonathan Hicken [00:02:25]: "There is just some sort of moral objection to maybe if we're too visible that devalues the sincerity or the authenticity of the impact. There's a sort of humility thing in there."

Eric Ressler [00:14:00]: "Visibility, man. At least you get the chance. If you have no visibility, you don't even have a chance."

Resources & Links:

• Seymour Marine Discovery Center — Jonathan Hicken's organization at UC Santa Cruz
• Science Solutions Santa Cruz — Jonathan's new video podcast.
• Gallup Poll: What's in a Name? Affordable Care Act vs. Obamacare
• Obamacare/ACA polling data — Measures of public opinion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)

Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday.

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