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Patton's Pick: Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte

October 28, 2025

Leadership Resources for the Philanthropic Sector

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Tiago Forte’s Building a Second Brain is an essential guide to organizing your ideas, projects, and professional insights in the digital age. I’m a big fan because it builds on another personal favorite - David Allen’s Getting Things Done - and it’s helping me reimagine my own Knowledge Management System (KMS). Every nonprofit leader needs a system like this to capture ideas, manage complexity, and create more mental space for strategic thinking and creativity.

  • Learn how to organize and retrieve digital information so you can act on it at the right time.

  • Use the PARA framework (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives) to structure your professional life.

  • Build a personal KMS that helps you turn knowledge into meaningful impact for your organization.

Dr. Patton McDowell, CFRE, MBA, is the creator of the innovative PMA Mastermind Leadership Program, a unique offering designed to elevate nonprofit leaders through comprehensive training and peer collaboration. He is also the author of the best-selling book, Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership, and host of the weekly podcast with the same name, available here. Since founding PMA Nonprofit Leadership in 2009, Patton has strategically guided over 300 nonprofit organizations to achieve their fullest potential. A Certified Fundraising Executive and Master Trainer for AFP Global, he serves as Executive in Residence at Cornell University's Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy and as Director of the Institute for Philanthropic Leadership.

 

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