June 30 Superman's birthday.  Superman, that great icon of American male power, rocketed to earth from Krypton on June 30. As a culture, Americans cultivate a mystique about leadership.  He may not have a cape, but The Leader is a recognizable type.  The square jawed guy in the corner office works tirelessly, makes correct split-second decisions, and inspires the enthusiasm of his followers.  I know that when I compare myself to him, I am slow-tongued, wracked by anguish, and sometimes rumple-suited.  But maybe, those of us who are not Superman can get more mileage out of honoring our limitations than trying to live up Mr. It's-a-bird-it's-a-plane's image.

The fund raising often profession is crippled by the Superman mystique.  Lots of people believe that succeeding in fund raising requires nerves of steel, telepathy, and a Kryptonite handshake.  The truth is, good manners and a little ambition will get you far.

If you find that Superman's Textbook for Fund Raising don't help you so much, here are some alternative ideas.

• Superman is self-reliant.  As my mentor Andrea Kihlstedt is fond of saying, "every organization is perfectly configured to be exactly the way it is."  That means change is hard.  If you want to be an instrument of organizational transformation, find allies.
• Superman is never insecure.  Pay attention to your insecurity.  Once you recognize that your nerves are made of some material more like pliable than steel, you can tune them to signal when something is off kilter in your relationships with your donors. 
•  Superman is unerringly persuasive.  Your donor has assigned your organization to a certain groove in her brain, and that determines her decision to give $X instead of ten times $X.  Your job, as a fund raiser, is to try to move the organization into a different brain-groove.  This is nervous-making.  You can face this nervousness by asking the donor's permission, by acknowledging that you are going out on a limb, or by any one of dozens of other ways of humanizing the encounter.  Once you admit you are not Superman, all kinds of possibilities open themselves.

Happy Birthday, Superman.  Now go away and catch a flying train or something.  We have work to do.