Margo Watson, Executive Director of FACE AIDS

Margo Watson (@MargWow) is the new Executive Director at FACE AIDS, and we sat down to talk over a cup of Blue Bottle coffee.

I’ve watched FACE AIDS grow from a student organization at Stanford University to a national organization with over 210 college and high school chapters. FACE AIDS works to fight HIV/AIDS by building a movement of young leaders dedicated to global health equity. I’ve had the privilege of advising all of the Executive Directors who have paved the way for Margo; Julie Veroff, Sarah Kleinman, and Jonny Dorsey.

Margo is working on a new strategic plan.  We talked about the need for more storytelling – not more spreadsheets – in strategic plans.  Stories bring clarity to an organization’s purpose and can motivate a far flung staff in a way that mission statements and outcome measurements can’t.  Why have so many people come to join the mission of Dr. Paul Farmer at Partners in Health?  Because of the compelling stories about Dr. Farmer’s work told by author Tracy Kidder in his book ‘Mountains Beyond Mountains.’

Find the stories behind FACE AIDS at http://www.faceaids.org .