Nonprofit Founders: I love you and your incredible impact. I also need you to spend some serious time thinking about your departures, especially as it relates to any designs you have about joining the board when you leave. About half of the founders I work with want to join the board after they step down as ED/CEO. About 25% do (against my recommendation), and for the other 75%, the board says no. The "no" might mean there's a short-term, time-limited advisory option instead, or ... the...
5 days ago • 1 min read
Lately, we are nerding out over finding similarities and adjacent learning opportunities with existing frameworks, models, thought leadership, and more. Currently on our minds is the Dancing with Systems model from Donella Meadows, one of my very favorite systems thinkers. Would love to know what you think of this article, and our take on her model as meshed with our Leaving Well framework! Some of our favorite podcast episodes to share: We recently hired the Satiated Artists team to help us...
11 days ago • 2 min read
I hope you've been well as June is solidly upon us? I'm still reflecting on my sabbatical last month, during which I traveled to Morocco. The trip was partially to celebrate my 50th birthday (wow!) but also to really lean into the medicine I dose to orgs we work with. It was magical, and I'm even more bullish now about encouraging leaders to take sabbaticals (not reserved just for leaders by title!). We will share some more about lessons learned (including fiercely protecting your re-entry...
15 days ago • 3 min read
Picture this: It's your last board meeting as Executive Director. You've led this organization through a capital campaign, an executive transition before yours, a pandemic, and more than a few impossible budget cycles. You know your StrengthsFinder results by heart. Maybe you've done the Enneagram work. Maybe you've gone deep on Human Design. And still, when someone asks how you're doing with the transition, you don't quite have the words. I’m here to let you know that this isn’t a failure of...
23 days ago • 3 min read
Dream with me a bit ... your sabbatical is coming. Maybe it's in 8 weeks, maybe 8 months. You've started planning: ✓ Identified interim leadership✓ Created coverage plans✓ Communicated with your board✓ Blocked your calendar Here's what you probably haven't planned: Your return. I see this constantly in my work providing interim leadership for nonprofits—thoughtful (and in rare cases, meticulous) departure planning, with a hellacious and chaotic re-entry. Leaders return on their first Monday...
3 months ago • 4 min read
I'm a book person, always have been. Over the years I've collected a list of reads that have genuinely shaped how I think about leadership, transitions, and the work of leaving well, and I finally pulled them all together in one place: naomihattaway.com/books These are books I return to, recommend in client conversations, and honestly just love. If you're a reader too — or you're looking for something to hand to a board member, a departing ED, or a leader in the thick of a transition — I...
3 months ago • 1 min read
The Independent Sector National Summit — one of the largest gatherings in the nonprofit sector — finally put succession planning on their 2026 agenda. After years of watching this topic get sidelined by conference after conference, I was genuinely thrilled. It's progress! It's beyond time that we bring the reality that People Leave to stages where our decision makers and funders gather. Then I read the speaker terms. No honorarium. No travel. No hotel. A 50% discount off registration for...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Netflix's Queer Eye just did something most nonprofits aren't so great at: they ended well. Their final season features five episodes—each concluding with a different cast member reflecting on their decade-long journey. They announced the ending six months in advance, which allowed them to leave from a position of strength instead of crisis response. Most nonprofits treat leadership departures as emergencies to manage, but the Queer Eye crew treated their ending as part of their legacy to...
4 months ago • 1 min read
(we're back with another long form email! If you want to skip straight to read the articles I'm discussing in this email, you can visit the articles section on our website) You're exhausted, I know. You're the only one who knows how the donor database works. Board members text you on weekends. Your team escalates every decision to you. You haven't taken a real vacation in three years. And everyone tells you how dedicated you are. How committed. How essential. But what they're not saying (but...
5 months ago • 4 min read