Interview with Dianne Oliver, November 18, 2019

Interview with Dianne Oliver, November 18, 2019

Sammi Accola: I am here today with Dianne Oliver, who is the current chief executive officer of the West End Home Foundation. This is Sammi and Dianne. The first question I have for you today is then going to be: What part of your personal biography or background has led you to this position?

Dianne Oliver: Oh, Several Parts. When I did my graduate work, I ended up taking some classes on aging- my degree was in Sociology, my undergraduate and graduate. I took some classes on aging, death and dying, and just that whole part of the life cycle and just loved it. It just really...

SA: Struck a nerve?

DO: Yeah it did really. I did my thesis on- my Master's thesis was on retirement and ended up working at a nursing home on Research Grant after I got out of school for about a year-and-a-half and loved the whole field of gerontology. And I wanted to go into more of a service type of Industry, nonprofit and I ended passing up a fairly decent paying job at a research firm to do something totally unrelated to anything nonprofit or service-oriented to go... and I went to work for a small planning Council and started doing just demographic research and planning around all sorts of social issues and then that segued into a United Way career. And I've always worked in nonprofits. A lot of what I've done has been related to fund distribution. I was the head of fund distribution with United Way in Kansas City for several years and kind of wound my way to Nashville. I took about 10 years doing consulting and training around program evaluation outcome measurement, to really look at the impact, and did a lot of work with foundations. And when we came here to Nashville, I thought I'd really like to stay in the foundation world and it's like this job just opened up. We've been here for about three years and It was their first, I'm their first Executive Director. It really married my grant-making find distribution with my passion for gerontology that I kind of lost over the years. It's just the perfect job. I absolutely love it.

SA: What was the reason for them not having an executive director before?

DO: They operated a home for elderly women for about one hundred and twenty years. And they did have staff at the home. They decided that was not really the right business model anymore with all these assisted living facilities and retirement communities. It was really difficult just for freestanding nonprofit to sustain that kind of a business, and they transitioned out of that kind of gradually moved some remaining women to an assisted living facility, sold the home, converted all the assets into a foundation, and the board managed the foundation for about three or four years and then decided they really needed a paid professional in order to have the kind of impact in the community they wanted. And I'm it and very thankful to be here.

SA: Does your husband help you in any assets of the company?

DO: No not at all, but we've both been very community service oriented. He's the head of the Nashville Public Library. He has always been, when we met he was the head of a small suburban library in Kansas and I was the head of the United Way. We've always had very strong commitments to community service. We cross over a lot in our professional lives, which is great. [laughter] Actually one of my board members told me one time, 

had we been at an event and she said, "You and Kent are like the Tim and Faith of community service-"

SA: I love that, ha!

DO: I just said, "oh wow! That's just great!" which I don't agree at all, but I thought well that's high praise, I'll take it.

SA: Well that's encouraging too. How did you hear about the West End Home Foundation then? Just through moving here?

DO: Well actually I heard about it from a colleague who was doing um, who was actually doing the strategic planning process for the board. And she and I were both doing training at the center for nonprofit management, and we used to get together for um, she's left town, but we used to get together for wine periodically and we were chatting and she said, "I'm working with this kind of New Foundation." She said, "I think you'd be perfect for them. They're part of their strategic plan is to hire an executive director" and then just time passed and they didn't... and I'm thinking that they're not going to, and I started doing some research on them and realized this would be a really good fit for me and then when they advertised I...

SA: Hopped in there!

DO: I did hop in there, and It was great. By then I was pretty well connected in the nonprofit community so I felt like I kind of established my credibility here in Nashville, which is hard moving to a new community particularly, in nonprofits I've found that here. And I've had other friends that have moved here and say, it's really taken a period of time and relationship-building before you can really be considered as viable resource.

SA: I'm sure being in a big city has a lot to do with that too. Well, the next question I would have to add is: how would you characterize your leadership style... now or in the past?

DO: Yeah, it's funny. I just don't always believe I fall under the category of a leader. I just I don't. I guess I probably fall under the category of servant leadership. I'm just really... my passion is to make a difference in the community. And I think a lot of that comes from building strong relationships and really learning about the community and being part of that Community, I don't come in and try to rally the troops here's what we've got to do. I mean it's real --

SA: Collaborative

DO: Yes, collaborative process that evolves over time and if I can help mobilize some of that through my position here, by position, I do have a certain stature and credibility and people will listen but it's... I try to listen more than direct and mobilize through conversation and just building excitement.

SA: Has there been any leader's up until this point that have influenced you? maybe personal leaders or...?

DO: Yeah. I've had, well the... Well my main influence and I know that was one of the questions, was probably my father. He was, by profession he was a trial attorney, but his hobby was he was mayor of the town that I grew up in it was suburb of Kansas City. He was always considered a political leader, but for him, it was more of a-- He viewed the city as his family and just wanted to make it a great place for everybody to live and was committed to expanding services and removing barriers for participation. I just always grew up listening to him and watching him, and yeah, he's been my greatest influence. I've also had some really great female bosses over the years that I just learned so much from, just the way they kind of navigated systems.

SA: Were there any personality traits of them that stuck out to you?

DO: Yeah ah. This one. My boss Gina. I was, worked for her off and on over the years. We just kind of kept landing in different department stores, places together in Kansas City. She was just very-- thoughtful, and never made snap decisions just she would really look at all sides of an issue or situation before developing a course of action and again kind of create- build that consensus around the team with her that it was the right way to move forward, but I just, I just always have aspired to have that, that kind of sense of calm and purpose.

SA: Similar to intentionality.

DO: Yeah, and I don't know that I've ever probably achieved that but it's a--

SA: A process. Trust the process.

DO: it is, it is.

SA: I aspire to be like that too. It's super cool. As a professional, what are your strengths and weaknesses would you say?

DO: I think one of my strengths is relationship building. I have worked with, top executives, and I have been out interacting with people who receive service from the agencies that we fund, or the United Way fund and I think just having that range of experiences and being able to interact with and relate to people at all levels of society. And that's the part I really love about my job. Just that...

SA: No one is left behind.

 

DO: That scope. Yeah no one's left behind or a lot of people are left behind honestly. But, as far as really understanding- and I think it goes back to my sociology, which was all about human relationship soon experiences and access and inaccess, or. Yeah, so that's probably my strength, my biggest strength. I like to think I'm focused and fairly analytical and all of that. But as far as my weaknesses, Oh I don't have any [laughter] Oh, I think and my husband always tells me this... I don't view myself as a leader. I don't think I have the confidence to really totally be that visionary leader that can go out and convince the world that this is what we have to do. I'm a little more soft-spoken and tend to work more in the background.

SA: But, I think that is important too. Cause what we've been learning about in Global Leadership Studies too, is that there's many different styles, and so many different kinds of leaders that no matter if you are the back person, you're still leading an area-- That's cool to recognize. Also, do you believe you were called into this leadership position, or did you seek it out because of the held convictions about a certain topic?

DO: Yeah-- Boy, I think with me it's just kind of evolved. I think as far as this specific position I mean I went after it, because I believed in the mission, and I wanted to be a part of it. But I think as far as, just kind of what got me to this point it was, it was more of an evolution, but again a real commitment to be a part of the solution in a community. But I don't know that I'd say it was, I was called into it. That's a tough question, but I just, I've always believed very strongly in what I was doing professionally, and I can remember when I was out of college, and I had a really good friend, and she had a really great position but it was just a job to her. And, we would get together and I was just raving about that I did this, and this, and it was just cool to be a part of the community. And she just couldn't believe that I was energized by my work and I was making a fraction of what she was making, but it just it was never about the money for me.

SA: Well that's awesome, thank you. And what experiences, maybe through college or whatever, have shaped you as a leader?

DO: What experiences have shaped me as a leader?

SA: Probably lots! [laughter]

DO: Boy, that's a tough one and I didn't make any notes. I kind of skipped over that one. I think... Boy, that's a tough one.

SA: It is.

DO: Yeah it is. And I think seeing that their- and I think it kind of goes back to these cultural identities and experiences. I think part of it is knowing that I've come from the position of privilege, I was born into a Middle upper-middle class Caucasian family in the United States of America. And then you see as you, you don't see it really until you start getting the college and you do some traveling and you really start your eyes are broadened, and you realize just what a privilege that is and it's really-- There's so much, social injustice out there and many people that don't have access to the freedoms and opportunities that we do. And some of the people that I met in college and beyond, that that didn't have the kind of opportunities and I think that has made me want to do something to at least for some segment of the population, to help them overcome those barriers. Yeah. Other experiences I think just having opportunities to lead in small ways. In college I had a professor that just kind of took me under his wing on some research projects and let me really kind of put my own self into it and I loved it and It was just--

SA: From there on...

DO: Yeah and it are it just really, yeah, just makes you realize what you can accomplish. That's not a very good answer.

SA: No...and I think that going with that another question I have is: apart from the foundation are there any other big social movements that you're very passionate about, and that you want to see change in the world?

DO: Oh, that's ah-- and see that wasn't on here. [laughter]. No that's a good one.

SA: A bonus ha!

DO: And obviously because of my husband's work- very passionate about literacy and intellectual Freedom. Again, that access to information and knowledge is so important. I'm totally in there with him on that and love being a part of that. That part of the world in his work. Yeah, I'll tell you lately, the two areas that I just I really want to do something with are, environmental issues. I just, you see someone like Greta, who came to the United Nations to talk about what we're doing to our environment. I would love to become more active in some significant way. I certainly do my share personally, but you've got to have to influence others and the other issue is not a... I guess it's a social issue. Is the whole gun violence thing. And yeah. But, it's hard and my husband is with... Of course, we're always working in the public sector. Some of the issues we have to be careful that we don't get involved in issues that are too political because of walking the line and even somewhat when we have a board of directors, but yeah. I really see in my retirement, which is probably about five years out, that I would like to become more active. I'll be like a Jane Fonda and one of those...the older activist, and I'll get myself arrested.

SA: Yes! [laughter] That's awesome. Going off of that, how have you learned from some obstacles and challenges faced?

DO: Oh. I think...what I'd jot down for that. Let me. Now I do think you've really got to persevere. You do have to persevere. I face probably the most recent major challenge I faced, was moving here to Nashville and spending about three years trying to figure out what am I going to do and just never getting anywhere and it would have been really easy just to say okay. I'm done. I'm just going to stay at home and do my thing, but you really have to be brave enough to put yourself out there. And if you have something to offer and not give up on yourself. And I think the other the other thing is, always do what's right. It may not always get you to a better place at that particular moment in time, but just be true to yourself and do what, what's right and what you believe in.

SA: Yeah, that's powerful. Also, then what does leadership mean to you?

DO: I think it's just being part and by being a little bit on the front end. But, just being part of a movement that matters. And helping mobilize people that either already share your passion or try to mobilize new people that don't share your passion. I think a lot of it, is listening in leadership, you've really got to know- you've got to understand the people in the community that you're trying to impact. A lot of listening and learning from others. You don't take credit. You share the successes. And really-- I mean that's a huge thing is to share the success.

SA: That's awesome, and I think that just spurred a thought in my head too, is, what would you say to the now college student in preparation to be a leader? I don't necessarily know what feels or where I want to go. But what would you say to me to continue to persevere or pursue in leadership?

DO: I think a lot of it is knowledge. Knowledge and understanding. Again, that listening... but that's a tough one.

SA: [laughter] Yeah, It's a big one.

DO: Yeah, it's stressing me out [laughter]! No, I think if you want it to be a leader, yeah, I think you'd really got to kind of learn- In order to really be an effective leader, you've got to believe in what you're leading, and follow your passions, and that's one of the things I've told my daughter who's not too much older than you are. But, you've really got- You've got to feel like you're making a difference in something that's important to you. And learn as much as you can about it and talk to as many people as you can and really understand the landscape and then go from there.

SA: Yeah. And I think you answered this but, I'll just add it. Leaders help to turn ideas into action and empower others. How do you accomplish this?

DO: Again, I think by talking and listening and sharing ideas. You know, brainstorming, trying to really look at - course this is about strategic planning - but really looking at your obstacles in your opportunities to figure out what is the best course of action to get to a desired end point--

SA: It's structure, and goals.

DO: Yeah, you've got to have goals. If you don't know where you're going, you've really got to get there. You've really got to look at what's your endgame and then what gives you the greatest likelihood for success. But, be willing to change course. That's a real important piece. You've got to be willing to change course, you've got to just, always just assess as you go, because the best laid plans... [laughter]

 

SA: And I think that ties into the question of: how do you learn from failure? And how do you measure success?

DO: Yeah and success, that's an interesting question, and I hate that question because for 12 years, I did training to organizations on how to measure success. How to develop metrics that would really document their impact whether they were providing Mental Health Services or ya know Health Services or education programs, but you've got to have metrics and benchmarks along the way to really be able to determine your success. But, do we do that ourselves. And I think to some extent you've got to set goals, and you've got to set them. I like the big hairy audacious goals, but you've also got it look at some realistic goals and kind of, ya know, keep tracking them. And I mean don't lose sight of them. And so you do really need to have some kind of a road map to follow. 

SA: This is a random thought but, are you a to-do lister, or do you like to keep your goals in open places?

DO: Well it varies. I depends on where I am. When I'm really overwhelmed that where I don't even know where to start, sometimes I have too many projects going on all at once and I've got to sit down with my to-do lists. Other times I'll go through a period of weeks and I don't have a to do list. I just come in and I kind of know what I'm doing. And yeah, I kind of have split personalities in regard to to-do lists.

SA: Me too. [laughter] I don't always love them but I know that they are necessary a lot of times.

DO: Oh, they are necessary. They are.

SA: What are two or three action steps that you believe are essential to enabling others to be successful?

DO: I think you've got to give them responsibility. I think that kind of goes back to the delegating all that, but if you really going to incur and allow others to be successful, you've got to give them responsibility and let them succeed or fail, but not punish them for failing, that's part of learning how to grow and be an effective leader.

SA: Is it hard sometimes as a leader to take off the reins?

DO: Oh, it is. And mine is interesting because I've got one assistant and she's mostly administrative and then I've got a board of directors. I try to actually keep my board very engaged and they kind of view me as the leader, course, they're all my bosses. But I try to give them roles of substance because I mean, we're all part of the success of this organization and I think you've also got to give people the skills and tools they need to be successful. and that's not - whether I think staff development is important and in nonprofits particularly, there's a real lack of staff development. But, you've got to invest in training and support to really increase the professionalism and leadership abilities of your staff. That's one of the things that I do encourage with the organization's that we fund. That shouldn't be the last thing you put into a budget because that's what's going to help your organization be successful.

SA: That's interesting. Do most nonprofits you find; do they have a large staff?

DO: Oh, they're all over. Anywhere from one to two people, to hundreds, it's just a mix. And some of the smaller ones are having just as much impact as some of the larger ones, maybe not on the same scale.

SA: Maybe in more emotional ways. That's cool. What projects is your organization currently working on, or currently apart of?

DO: Okay so we just finished our grants and distributing grants. I'll give you this--

SA: Oh yeah, what does that process look like?

DO: Take it. This is what we fund, and currently this year in 2019, we gave out two million dollars and everything we do focuses on older adults. We fund this whole range of programs: advocacy enrichment, food, health care, housing, transportation, wellness, and supportive care. We've got 34 agency partners that we support and we do an annual grants process. We just completed the one for 2020 and have sent out Grant award letters and Grant denial letters. I'm getting all these happy phone calls and emails from the ones we awarded, and all these "can we talk" from the ones we didn't award wanting to understand why we didn't fund them.

SA: How many applicants do you have then?

DO: This year we had 56 applicants. We had to turn down about 22. We had requests for about 3.5 million. And I mean, a lot of it and I'll tell them a lot of it, is just the math. We just can't afford to support every organization that comes to us, and we really try to support the best and the brightest and the ones that we think we're going to have the greatest impact in the community. That's kind of our core function. We're also doing a lot of work around advocacy. We hosted a seminar, it's called "Reframing Aging." We had a summit in the spring, where we had to consult a national consultant come in to talk to train our agency's how to do a more effective job at communicating about their work and putting in a more positive kind of solution base. Here's what we're achieving, rather than we're dealing with people who have Alzheimer's. Well, how are you improving their quality of life and supporting the families to have a better quality of life working with their loved ones. Anyway, it's kind of a communications program, but it's also a vehicle for influencing public policy around aging issues and to foster greater engagement by the community. We put a lot of effort into that and will continue to do that in 2020.

SA: Because of the focus on the West End Home Foundation on the elderly, Do you think that across society, there has been neglect?

DO: Yes, very much. Two percent of philanthropic dollars go for aging services', I mean we're looking at older adults being about twenty percent of the population. They are not very "sexy", they are not cute. It's kids and puppies and other things, just have much greater appeal. We are really trying to be a voice for that segment of the community and generate greater interest in being a part of funding initiatives and providing some solutions. I think we're starting to get some traction.

SA: How do you guys campaign for that through these seminars and summits?

DO: Yeah, mostly we'll go out and speak to groups. I was on the agenda for the Metro Council orientation to talk about, and I gave a bunch of stats about what the Davidson County population looks like, and this is what it's going to be in 2030. You really need to consider older adults and all of the policies and planning and whether it's parks or transportation or affordable housing that's got to be part of the equation. We're really trying to and our next step is to come up with that who all do we want to get in front of this next year to start carrying that message forward. That's the kind of stuff that really gets us out into the community.

SA: What inspired the West End Home Foundation?

DO: Originally? It's been around since 1891, and did you know Mary Ellen wrote a book on our history?

SA: Yes, she told me!

DO: I'll give you a copy of it. Anyway, what inspired then, was um there were- this was back in the late 1800s, women without means and without families ended up in port houses. A group of...I think they were probably Bell Meade women, came together and thought that they wanted to provide a place where women, and a lot of Civil War widows who lost their spouses to the Civil War just didn't have family, a respectable place for these women to live. It evolved over the years. It started out in this just very small residential home downtown and I think when the home closed, it would hold around 50 or 60 women depending on whether they were sharing rooms or had independent rooms. But it was really just to provide that quality of life for women who otherwise wouldn't have a decent place to live or a decent lifestyle and it was very much like a home. They were very well cared. They had this auxiliary that would take them shopping, take them to get their hair done. They had all these really fun parties for them. So, as that evolved over the years, and the board finally decided that it's really, it's been a great run but it's time to close the home. They basically went through exercise-kind-of-visioning and asked "what's the legacy of all of this?" They thought that by becoming a foundation they could expand the reach in the community, not just providing care to a small group of women, but by providing grants to organizations that serve older adults in all in all aspects of life.

SA: That's awesome. I think this will be my last question too, based off of what you just said, funny you should mention that. What do you want your personal legacy to be?

DO: Oh god, I don't know.

SA: Within the organization or apart.

DO: Okay. Within the organization or without, I think for both, I would like to be known as someone who cared deeply about making a difference and making the world a better place for others. In this case, It's older adults. I love being a mother. I mean, I think my favorite role in life has been and will always be being a mother and I just kind of want to leave a legacy of being that mom who was a role model and taught my daughter how to care deeply about things. I just think that what bothers me the most in our world today, is the kind of complacency that people don't seem to care as much. And a lot of people care a lot. I mean, just in the area that I work there are so many people like me, and even working much harder than I do to make a difference. But that's just how I'd like to be remembered as.

SA: Thank you so much for letting me do this interview and for teaching me so much in such a small amount of time. I seriously appreciate it.

DO: Your questions really caught...it's been interesting. I've been gone for about 2 weeks on a couple of different travels, so I came in today to kind of get my head back into my work, and then I got your interview questions, but it was for it was really good. Because I am kind of at the year end, reflecting on what we've accomplished we're moving forward, but it really cost me to do some soul-searching. I appreciated the opportunity to be a part of this.

SA: And I'm excited to share with Mary Ellen about all of it. Thank you so much.