There's a mindset that thinks of charity as sweet and nice. It's a shock for some when they find there are lots of first-rate professional staff who could have been very successful in the private sector. While acknowledging that there are differences, Bubb argues that each can learn from the other. For example, he suggests charity managers are not always good at getting to grips with restructuring and other tough challenges which might involve redundancies and other difficult personnel issues. On the other hand, businesses are often struggling to come to terms with the fact that old-fashioned command and control does not normally yield brilliant results even in the commercial world.
People often think in terms of what the private sector can bring to charities.
But there is a hell of a lot of good leadership practice in the voluntary sector which businesses want to learn about. They want to learn about motivation and inspiration - the softer skills that commercial people are often bloody poor at. Voluntary sector managers often have to lead volunteers. They don't have contracts of employment. You have to use a lot of skills which commercial leaders would be better for having.