Katie didn't get to plan her departure. She died suddenly, mid-leadership, no warning. What her team did next, during my interim executive director time with them, wasn't in any succession plan I'd ever written. We put a giant sticky note on the wall and asked one question: what did you love about Katie's leadership? The answers repeated, and themes arose. We named the items that rose to the top: Katie's Way. We then asked the next leader to protect two of those pivotal and memorable...

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...

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...