Below are some (just a few!) honest opinions that I hold on the topic of professional development, from my vantage point as a recovering nonprofit leader. Most professional development in the nonprofit sector is performative. We attend conferences, collect certificates, and check boxes while our organizations burn out the people doing the actual work. Real professional development isn't a workshop. It's creating space for leaders to admit what they don't know without fear of losing...
30 days ago • 1 min read
At 95 years old, Warren Buffett hands over Berkshire Hathaway's CEO role to Greg Abel tomorrow (January 1, 2026) after 60 years in the seat. Everyone's covering the obvious story: legendary investor retires, successor steps in, $1 trillion empire continues. But there are two details that every nonprofit board needs to understand: He announced this in May. For a December 31 retirement. It's not automatically good advice to still go into the office after you retire, and it also not always a...
about 1 month ago • 7 min read
Your ED just resigned. Or maybe they're planning to in six months. Either way, you need leadership coverage, and someone on your board just said, "Can't Susan from Finance just step up?" Maybe! This email will share some tips and knowledge so you're aware of how to actually choose between. If you'd rather read the full article, click here. Full-time Interim ED/CEOs Full-time interims are external hires who specialize in organizational transitions. They show up when leadership changes, mergers...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Misty Copeland almost disappeared quietly. After 25 years with American Ballet Theatre—with metal plates, torn ligaments, and constant pain—she was ready to fade away. No farewell gala. No public goodbye. Then Darren Walker intervened. Walker, the outgoing president of Ford Foundation, convinced her to make it public. "It feels like a launching pad," Copeland said after his encouragement. Then Walker did something even better: Ford Foundation became the lead underwriter for her October 22...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi! I want to tell you about something that happened last week that reinforced why I do this work the way I do (and how I accomplish my work as well). A client needed board training. Not the cookie-cutter, here's-your-binder-good-luck variety. Real training, as in: How do we run an annual review process for our executive director? We need to learn how to read financials without glazing over! What's our actual role in fundraising? How do we onboard new members so they don't spend a year...
2 months ago • 1 min read
You probably use the word "stakeholder" dozens of times a week. In proposals, meetings, strategic plans. It feels neutral, professional, standard. It's not. The term comes from literally driving stakes into land to claim it—to forcibly mark indigenous territory as someone else's property. Every time we use it casually in our sector, we're invoking the language of dispossession. I just released a podcast episode with Austen Smith and Julie McFarland diving into why this matters and what to do...
2 months ago • 1 min read
I recently published an article on board succession planning in Community Association Institute's Common Ground magazine's November/December edition. The article was written specifically for homeowners associations and community association boards—the volunteer leaders who govern neighborhoods, condos, and planned communities. But like so many other topics, there is nothing in that article for community association boards that departs from the advice I'd give to nonprofit board members. The...
3 months ago • 6 min read
This week's Leaving Well podcast features Katya Fels Smyth, who just did what most nonprofit leaders think is impossible: she wound down the Full Frame Initiative after 15 years — proactively, with integrity, and in partnership with her community. Not because she had to, but because staying wasn't serving the mission anymore. Who gets to decide they're leaving? What are the implications? Who's left holding the bag? These aren't just operational questions. They're power and justice questions....
3 months ago • 2 min read
Let's talk about the question your board isn't asking out loud: Is it time for our ED/CEO to leave? Not because they're failing. Not because they're old. But because the organization likely needs something different than what they can deliver right now, or needs to prepare for when that time comes. New McKinsey research on 200 top CEOs found that leaders in their final stage—"Winter"—have predictable blind spots. The most critical one: recognizing when to leave is a leadership competency, and...
3 months ago • 1 min read