20 Questions

Mike Wilson

    1. How would you describe yourself in 3 words? An interesting life.
    2. What was your first job, and what lesson did you take from it that you still use today? I had a lawn mowing business in my early teens, so I learned discipline and service. I showed up on the hottest days and my neighborhood customers were always surprised with my sincerity and work ethic.
    3. Who do you wish you could meet again for the first time? My daughter’s mother and my former wife, Trina. ‘Thank you.’
    4. What inspires you to do your best work? Past success and future challenges
    5. Is there a humanitarian that has left an impression on you? Yes – John McKibbin
    6. What is your Enneagram type? Type 1 – The Reformer. The Rational, Idealistic Type: Principled, Purposeful, Self-Controlled, and Perfectionistic.
    7. How do you describe what you do for a living to family and friends? Deeply satisfying work with a team approach. We lead and assist our non-profit clients with capital projects and related services.
    8. What could you give a 30-minute presentation about with no advance preparation? The three-legged stool approach to fundraising.
    9. What is one thing you are currently trying to make a habit? Going to church more often.
    10. Where are you in birth order (oldest? middle? youngest?) and do you think it affects your personality? Oldest- there are only two of us, I tend to want to support my Mother and help in any decisions that provide and support her quality of life.
    11. What do you like about working at WAI? Our team. We like each other. We care about our clients and look for the best opportunities to provide favorable results.
    12. What is the most inspiring part of nonprofit work? Experiencing a project coming together, attending a client ribbon-cutting and seeing the good of the community supporting a great project as the non-profit opens its doors to a new service facility.
    13. What is one professional skill you are currently working to improve? Understanding all the implications of ‘virtual ’meetings, I could be better at it!
    14. Who has influenced you most when it comes to how you approach your work? Mike and Patti Westby.
    15. What personality trait do you most attribute your success to, and why? Perseverance–you must stay with capital campaigns and sometimes know when to ask your team for help. Our WAI team is good at helping resource each other find the pathway to success.
    16. What is a mistake you made early on in your career, and what did you learn from it? Being afraid sometimes to see an opportunity, a risk, and being afraid to take it. I learned that sometimes being bold, thinking out of the box can be very beneficial when it seems there is no obvious resolution to the “challenge”.
    17. If you could add one thing to WAI office, what would it be?  I have worked in several different environments in my career to know that this office environment has everything I need or want.
    18. What is one of your favorite memories from your career?  Too many to mention and several here at WAI, working with this current Westby Team and the satisfaction of doing good work for our clients are terrific career memories.
    19. What are three items you would take with you to a deserted island?  My family, my dog Oscar and the spring selection of vegetable starts at Home Depot.
    20. What is the best piece of professional advice you are ever received? “Prep for bear, pray for rabbit” – Thanks Mike!

any questions?

Get in touch with us
from our contact page.

arrow icon

Start typing and press Enter to search