My dad once looked at the vast collection of black shoes –from flip flops to stilettos– in my closet and admonished, “Shoes are not an investment in your future.” He directed me to ask myself how many I really needed to meet my goal of being fashionably well-shod. The rest were taking up space and had diverted cash from more productive uses.

Our organizations don’t have closets full of footwear, but they sure do have stuff. Think activities. Think programs. Think events.

How much stuff is too much stuff for an organization? engage in the future or meet an emerging need among our stakeholders. So how do we reduce the proliferation and gain focus?

We do it in much the same way we approach a good closet cleaning. We do it deliberately. mission, vision, and values, it will help us align and invest our resources for what is possible rather than what was. A matrix is a great way to start the pruning process.