Navid Ladha on Why Low Pay Is a Leadership Problem, Finding Hidden Remote Roles, and the Future of Social Impact

About this episode

Navid Ladha discusses the implications of low pay in social impact roles and the future of work in the sector with host Dan Freehling.

Navid Ladha (linkedin.com/in/navidladha/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/navidladha/], onpurposecareers.org [https://onpurposecareers.org/]), founder of OnPurpose Careers, joins host Dan Freehling (contempusleadership.com [https://www.contempusleadership.com/]) to challenge the notion that purpose-driven work has to come with lower pay. Navid and Dan discuss why underpaying social impact staff creates wealth inequity that disconnects organizations from the communities they serve (02:53) and walk through what job seekers, board members, and executive leaders can each do to shift this (04:10). Navid shares his take on what AI-driven workforce changes may mean for the social sector (08:44) and the policy levers that could bring more people into this work (12:09). Navid and Dan talk about the growing demand for strategic fundraisers and the case for nonprofits to define an "end game" rather than operate in perpetuity (24:32). Navid identifies the highest-paying, most active subsectors right now (27:38) and Dan describes what he calls the "new social sector" (33:58). Both push back on greenwashing and performative social impact branding (37:09). On remote work, Navid shares findings from…

People in this episode

Host: Dan Freehling

Guest: Navid Ladha

Topics covered

• leadership
• social impact
• remote work
• wealth inequity
• AI in workforce
• nonprofit strategy

Keywords

• low pay
• leadership problem
• social impact
• remote roles
• AI workforce changes
• strategic fundraising
• nonprofit end game

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: OnPurpose Careers, Contempus Leadership

Books & works: Sparked

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