By Adam Miller

Not long ago, after I had gone on a rant about scale and impact, someone asked me, “Adam, have you drunk the Mulago Kool-Aid?” I laughed. “We definitely poured some of their Kool-Aid into our own!” I replied, “But it's still our Kool-Aid.”

I meant it. Because some lessons do more than shift your thinking. They sharpen it, stretch it, and leave you better prepared for what comes next.

Mulago Morocco Retreat: Returning as Faculty

This year, I was honored to be invited back to the Mulago Fellows Retreat, not as a fellow, but as a mentor to share Planet Indonesia’s journey from fellow to portfolio org, and from Research & Development to scale.

It felt surreal. When I joined the fellowship several years ago, I wasn’t sure Planet Indonesia was the right fit. We weren’t a typical scale-hungry startup. We were a community organization rooted in nuance, rights, and relationships. We were thinking about scaling values, not models. The kind of complexity that doesn’t always translate easily into slick frameworks or simplified diagrams.

*The beautiful Mulago Retreat site in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco*

I had real doubts. Did we want to scale? If so, how? Did we even agree with the way “scale” was being framed? What was the cost of quantity vs quality? Would reducing a complex, holistic model into three neat lines compromise our integrity?

Those were important questions. But today, looking back at how far we’ve come, I can say with confidence that the Mulago experience made us better. And not just a little better. It challenged us to think more clearly, communicate more effectively, and lead more intentionally.

Tough Love, the Kind You Actually Need

One thing to understand about the Mulago fellowship: it isn’t all cheerleading. It’s tough love. Fellows are pushed. You are expected to be sharper, clearer, and more honest with yourself. You are required to defend your thinking and logic. It isn’t always comfortable. But it’s the kind of challenge that leaders and organizations need to grow.

As fellows, we had to answer difficult but important questions:

Tell us what you do in 8 words, and no more.
Who is your actual customer?
What behavior are people actually doing differently?
If you could only measure one thing, and one thing only, what would it be?

These questions are not just theoretical. They are structural. They force you to stop hiding behind broad mission statements and start being specific. Getting to simple clarity takes some tough love.

Clarity is discipline

Getting clear, its a muscle that needs training. In a sector like conservation, where dense language and jargon often replace meaningful explanation, clarity is one of the most powerful tools we have.

*Kevin shares the founding story of Mulago with new fellows around a bonfire every year - what is now an iconic and favorite moment of the week*

As we wrestled with tough questions, like the 8 word mission statement, our work became clearer. Our strategy became tighter. Our proposals became more grounded. And people started noticing.

We began hearing comments like:

“Your proposals are so clear.”
“We don’t even have funding for Indonesia right now, but your application was the clearest we’ve received - globally.”

This wasn’t just about style. It was about substance. It showed us that clarity is what allows ideas to land. It’s what helps good work find support.

Getting clear takes effort. It is a muscle. It must be used and built over time.

At Planet Indonesia, we are still building it. We are still learning how to scale in ways that are ethical, effective, and rooted in community leadership. We are still navigating the tension between place-based work and broader influence.

But we are doing it with more clarity. And that clarity came, in part, from tough questions, honest feedback, and shared learning.

Two Big Takeaways That Made Us Buy In

There were two insights that shifted how we think about scale and impact from our journey as fellows to now a portfolio org.

1. Scaling is about becoming more deliberate and more efficient.
It is not about doing more things in more places. It is about focusing. It is about going deep, refining what works, and doing it better. In a field where urgency and complexity can overwhelm, that kind of focus is both strategic and respectful.

We owe it to the communities we serve and the ecosystems we work in to be disciplined. That is a value of our organization, and also just good practice in scaling. Efficiency is not a dirty word. It is a sign that we are using our time, resources, and relationships well. Don’t communities deserve to be partners with high-quality and clear NGO partners? We think they do.

2. Scaling is about influence, not control.
This was a hard truth to internalize. Our model is deeply place-based. We believe in long-term trust, in community presence, in relationships built over years. So the idea that someone else could carry our approach without us felt risky. Would we muddy the waters of community-led models and local autonomy? Diluted quality of values in community first partnerships was and is not something we are willing to compromise.

But one sentence has stuck out to me to this day from my fellowship in 2022. It was a slide presented by Kevin Starr on “who is the doer @ scale” and it had three words: It ain’t you.

Real scale is when others start doing what you do (or some version of it!) without you. You are becoming a recruiter, not a doer. It’s not about getting really big or opening offices all over the place. It is when a model or behavior takes hold in the hands of others and becomes the norm.

Putting communities first in conservation and development, that becoming the norm, across the planet? That is an idea that gives us goosebumps. We could get behind that idea.

And here’s the part that took real humility: scaling the right way meant letting go of control, not adding more of it. We see so many organizations do the opposite. They try to scale by tightening their grip, adding more approvals, more staff layers, more systems to ensure “fidelity.” But in doing so, they suffocate the very potential they’re trying to unleash. Eventually, things stall or unravel. The approach collapses under the weight of control.

This changed how we view our role. We now invest more in mentoring, in sharing tools, and in working with partners. That includes our grantmaking work, our conservation governance systems, and our collaborations with other grassroots groups in Indonesia. Take home message: drink your Kool-Aid, but be willing to mix it with some others, too.

Scale Is Not Always Size

Too often, scale is misunderstood. In both, conservation and development, the assumption is that scale equals size. More sites, more staff, more funding, more footprint, more stuff! It’s why large INGOs and BINGOs are often described as “at scale.” But that interpretation misses the point. Scale is when others start doing things similarly to how you do, without your control.

But there’s another crucial nuance often left out of the conversation: scaling must match the stage you’re in.

At the R&D stage, pushing for size is not just unhelpful, it’s counterproductive. Early-stage organizations should be encouraged to stay small, to experiment, to prioritize quality over reach. This is where learning happens. This is where behavior change is tested. Funders who understand scale should actually reward restraint, not expansion. But they rarely do.

In the replication phase, yes, size begins to matter. But even here, the word to focus on is selection, at least in our opinion. Which contexts are right for replication? Which partners are the best and the right fit? Where does the model thrive or falter? It’s not about going everywhere. It’s about learning where, when, and how the model works best. Who and where to select for. You face some hard truths here as your once “all applicable” model and idea now begins to shrink, and it should!

And even in the final phase of scaling, when wider reach might make sense, we have to challenge the idea that "scale" simply means ticking boxes like “multi-country implementation.” That kind of checkbox logic, often driven by donor optics, misses the deeper point. True scale is about efficiency, effectiveness, and influence, not just numbers.

Scaling should never be a rush to grow. It should be a thoughtful progression of testing, refining, selecting, and enabling others. When we ignore the stage we’re in, we risk building something fragile, expensive, and unsustainable.

*No big stages or fancy cocktail parties - but a lot of cushions and sitting around tackling big problems - a hallmark of the Mulago fellows retreat*

Most Scaling Efforts Fall Short

Scaling only happens when the relationship between effort and impact begins to shift. If your impact grows but so does your effort in a one-to-one ratio, you are not scaling. You are just expanding.

This is where many organizations get stuck. They grow linearly. They add more programs, more teams, more sites. But the cost of every new site matches the cost of the last. There’s no leap. No curve. Just more.

Real scale bends the line. It’s the moment when your approach goes further with less. It spreads because it resonates.

Start Small. Stay Grounded. Ironically, one of the best ways to scale is to start small. Extremely small. Hyper-local is not a liability. It is an asset.

Your pilot site is your proof of concept. The “customer” might be a community leader, a village government, or a conservation officer. The goal is to create something worth emulating.

From Fellow to Faculty: A Full Circle Moment

Returning to Mulago as faculty in 2025 brought things full circle. I could see Planet Indonesia in so many of the fellows. The hesitation. The questions.

The desire to stay true to the work and not get pulled into generic growth for growth’s sake. But also deep ambition and a drive to do more. A desire to scale and scale correctly. Ambition rooted in passion, passion for a world that is rid of injustices, but one that centers rights, justice, and of course, climate.

To them, I wanted to say: it’s okay to question the frame. It’s okay to protect the heart of your work. But don’t be afraid of clarity. And don’t assume that growth always means losing your soul.

The organizations that thrive are the ones that know what they do, why they do it, and how others can take that work further.

We didn’t drink the Kool-Aid. But we did pour a little of it into our own and shook ‘em up. And it’s made us stronger.

It Ain’t You: Lessons on Scale, Control, and Clarity