Ep 142: How Kindness and Community Empower Today’s Nonprofit Leaders (with John Hoffman)

by Joan Garry

Join me and my friend and six-time Emmy winner, John Hoffman, as we discuss his 2020 documentary film, The Antidote, and the role of kindness in the work of today’s nonprofit leader and our society as a whole.

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I love a good AHA moment.

I recently had one on the role of kindness in the work of today’s nonprofit leaders while watching the 2020 documentary, The Antidote. In this episode, I’m joined by one of the film’s directors, my friend and six-time Emmy Award winner, John Hoffman.

As I watched this film, which features the stories of people who are really touching the work in their communities, I realized the true reason why I embrace the word kindness — it implies action. It requires commitment. You see, kindness can be thought of as something gentle, but it also has real strength.

To quote one of the heroes the movie spotlights, “Kindness is a practice. Kindness is a stance.”

Much like the nonprofit leaders of our world, The Antidote inspires a commitment to using kindness as a force for good and a vehicle to bind our communities together.

Listen in as John and I continue the conversation that the film drives on the roles that kindness, decency, compassion, and respect play in nonprofit work and our society as a whole.

In this episode:

  • What role does kindness play in the work of today’s nonprofit leaders?
  • How is kindness defined in today’s world?
  • What is the difference between an act of kindness and sustainable kindness?
  • What can nonprofit leaders take away from The Antidote?

Resources

Contact John Hoffman

About John Hoffman

John Hoffman is a six-time Emmy award-winning filmmaker, whose most recent films include Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2017, and Out of Many, One, which premiered at the New York Film Festival, followed by Netflix in 2018. Much of John’s work as a filmmaker has focused on the key health issues of our time, including The Weight of the Nation (HBO), Addiction (HBO), The Alzheimer’s Project (HBO), and First in Human (Discovery) – a 6-hour series set in the world’s largest research hospital, the NIH’s Building 10. In addition to making films, John has also been a network executive. He was the Executive Vice President of Documentaries & Specials for Discovery from 2015 to 2018, after nearly two decades as Vice President of Documentary Programming at HBO.