On October 1, Bishop Mariann Budde announced she will resign as head of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. She'll stay in the role until her successor is consecrated in June 2028 (Religion News Service, via National Catholic Reporter).

Two things stood out to me:

Bishop Budde used the words “leaving well™️.” She told RNS she wants her successor and the diocese to thrive after she's gone. That's the whole point of the work we do.

The runway is long. Nearly two years from announcement to handoff, with a search committee, a slate of candidates, and an election in January 2028. Most nonprofit boards never get anything close to that (I don’t necessarily recommend this long of a runway for nonprofits!).

Budde said she waited to resign because upheaval in federal agencies hit her congregations hard. “Not the time,” she said. She didn't say she was tired, and I won't guess. But I will tell you that leaders in big, visible roles rarely name burnout, exhaustion, or funding strain as the reason they're leaving, even when it's a major part of it. Boards, funders, and leaders themselves tend to reach for a gentler story. When the real reason stays hidden, the organization can't fix it for the next person.

So some questions for you.

If you're an executive director: who would you tell the real reason you would leave?

If you're on a board: have you made it safe for your leader to tell you it's time?

If you want to go deeper, I wrote a four-part series on succession lessons from the papal conclave.

Start with Part I: White Smoke on why the structure has to exist before the vacancy, then read Part IV on knowledge transfer, which is what a long runway is for. The other two cover politics and gender in succession.

Then take the Transition Readiness Quiz to see where your organization stands.

To leaving well,