What if one of the best ways to prevent burnout is not reducing the work—but changing how people experience it together?

Nonprofit leaders and volunteers often enter the work because they want to make a difference. But when every solved problem is replaced by another, even deeply committed people can lose sight of the progress they are making.

Jordan DeGree, executive director of the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance, joins Chris for a wide-ranging conversation about nonprofit leadership, volunteer engagement, organizational culture, creativity, and the surprisingly significant impact of better meetings.

Jordan explains why nonprofit organizations must periodically look beyond the problems immediately in front of them and reconnect people with the change they are working to create. He and Chris explore how small practices—expressing gratitude, sharing personal and professional highlights, creating space for quiet reflection, and intentionally strengthening relationships—can produce meaningful cultural change.

The conversation also examines how leaders can structure meetings so that ideas, rather than titles or personalities, become the focus. Jordan shares practical methods for reducing hierarchy, hearing from quieter participants, framing problems more effectively, and helping groups produce ideas they can actually implement.

Along the way, Jordan describes his unconventional path as an entrepreneur, artist, nonprofit leader, real estate investor, and founder of several ventures designed to help people bring ideas to life.

• Why nonprofit work can create burnout even among deeply committed people
• How reconnecting people to purpose can counter a constant problem-solving mindset
• Why maintaining the status quo can sometimes represent a meaningful victory
• How relationships and a sense of community help sustain volunteers
• Why small cultural practices can generate an outsized return
• How to structure meetings so quieter participants have an equal opportunity to contribute
• Why leaders should separate individual thinking from group discussion
• How better questions produce better ideas and more practical solutions
• Why respect and relationships are prerequisites for understanding another person’s perspective
• How Jordan built a career around creativity, experimentation, and helping others see beyond their perceived limit

Learn more about Jordan and all his ventures at jordandegree.com

It's time to wage war on crappy meetings! Download your free Field Guide to Better Meetings when you join the Next Level Leadership Community.

Learn more and sign up at ParksAndRestoration.com.

Better leaders. Better parks.

Parks and Restoration is a podcast and leadership development platform exploring leadership through the lens of ecology—for the land, via the people who serve it. Each episode is built for current and aspiring leaders in parks, conservation, and natural resources who want practical lessons on culture, growth, impact, and organizational resilience.

Learn more at ParksAndRestoration.com.

How do we protect the places we love without forgetting the people who make that protection possible?

Most people enter parks and conservation because they care deeply about the land. But as Rachel Franchina explains in this episode, the longer you stay in this profession, the more you realize that conservation is ultimately about people. Great leaders don't just manage resources—they build relationships, develop others, and create communities that care enough to protect those resources for generations to come.

Rachel spent more than 20 years with the U.S. Forest Service before becoming Executive Director of the Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals (SORP). We discuss the importance of developing people alongside the places they steward, the future of outdoor recreation leadership, and how SORP is helping build a stronger profession through initiatives like its new Outdoor Recreation Professional Competency Framework.

Learn more about SORP at https://recpro.org.

Key Takeaways

• Conservation succeeds or fails because of people—not just science.
• Why building relationships is the most important leadership skill in parks and conservation.
• Finding the balance between protecting natural resources and providing meaningful visitor experiences.
• How SORP is creating a stronger community for outdoor recreation professionals across North America.
• The value of mentorship, professional networks, and investing in the next generation of leaders.
• How the new Outdoor Recreation Professional Competency Framework can guide career development and organizational growth.
• Why agencies need to intentionally recruit, develop, and retain future conservation leaders.
• Practical leadership lessons for anyone responsible for caring for both people and place.

Join the Next Level Leadership Community

If you're ready to grow as a leader while making a greater impact on your organization, your community, and the places you care about, we'd love to have you join the Next Level Leadership Community.

You’ll get practical leadership insights, invites to meaningful conversations, and a growing network of professionals committed to building stronger organizations through better leadership.

Learn more and join us at https://www.parksandrestoration.com.

About Parks & Restoration

Better leaders. Better parks.

Parks and Restoration is a podcast and leadership development platform exploring leadership through the lens of ecology — for the land, via the people who serve it. Each episode is built for current and aspiring leaders in parks, conservation, and natural resources who want practical lessons on culture, growth, impact, and what it really takes to lead well.

Find out more and join the movement at https://www.parksandrestoration.com

What if protecting the parks and natural areas we still have simply isn't enough?

Dr. Doug Tallamy has spent decades studying the relationships between plants, insects, birds, and the ecosystems that sustain them. His conclusion is both sobering and empowering: our remaining parks and preserves are too small and too isolated to carry the entire burden of conserving biodiversity.

We have to put nature back everywhere else, too.

Doug is an entomologist, professor at the University of Delaware, bestselling author of Bringing Nature Home and Nature's Best Hope, and cofounder of Homegrown National Park — a movement encouraging people to restore ecological function to the landscapes where they live and work.

In this conversation, Doug and Chris explore what restoration actually looks like at scale, why native plants matter so much to food webs, how conservation professionals should think differently about protected land, and why individual landowners have more power than they may realize.

Key takeaways:

• Why Doug believes parks and preserves alone cannot prevent continued biodiversity loss
• How restoring his own ten-acre property resulted in 62 breeding bird species and more than 1,300 moth species
• Why invasive species management may be one of conservation's biggest challenges
• The case for combining voluntary incentives with meaningful conservation policy
• Why reducing lawn doesn't mean eliminating lawn
• How native landscaping can work within cultural expectations instead of fighting them
• Why Doug compares targeted herbicide use to chemotherapy
• Practical ways to restore prairie, savanna, roadsides, farms, and private property
• Why oaks are ecological powerhouses for wildlife, water, carbon, and food webs
• Doug's message to people working professionally in parks and conservation: “You are literally saving life on planet Earth.”

Learn more about Doug Tallamy and Homegrown National Park at HomegrownNationalPark.org.

Join the Next Level Leadership Community

If you're ready to grow as a leader while making a greater impact on your organization, your community, and the places you care about, join the Next Level Leadership Community. Learn more and join us at ParksandRestoration.com.

About Parks and Restoration

Better leaders. Better parks.

Parks and Restoration LLC helps parks, conservation, natural-resource, and outdoor recreation leaders build healthier teams and stronger organizations. Through the Parks and Restoration Podcast, speaking, writing, and consulting, we explore leadership through the lens of ecology—turning lessons from land stewardship into practical tools for workplace culture, public service, and organizational resilience. Our goal is simple: better leaders, better parks.

Music licensed through Soundstripe.

Code: OIXRITIUOBNL4YPE