Target's CEO succession is giving every nonprofit board some homework they probably don't want to do.

Brian Cornell stepped down last week after 11 years, and the board promoted COO Michael Fiddelke to CEO.

Clean, planned, internal promotion. Textbook succession planning, right?

Except for one uncomfortable detail: Target has been losing ground to competitors for years under the leadership team Fiddelke was part of.

Here's the question Target's board just forced into the open: Should the person who helped create your struggling strategy be the one to fix it?

What Target Got Right

Let's give credit first. This was planned succession, not crisis management. Cornell wasn't forced out by scandal or board revolt. They had time, process, and preparation. In fact, Cornell is going to retain the executive chair role of the board of directors - sigh!!

Besides the exiting CEO remaining on the board (in a voting role), the rest of this succession plan is pretty high on my list of successful successions, rather than waiting for crisis or founder burnout before thinking about transitions.

But Planning Isn't Everything

Here's what's gnawing at me: Fiddelke wasn't watching Target's strategic missteps from the outside. As COO, he was part of the leadership team making decisions that lost market share to Walmart, Amazon, and Costco.

Target's board essentially bet that he can lead differently as CEO than he operated as COO. Maybe they're right. Authority does change perspective.

But it's still a gamble.

The Nonprofit Reality Check

Your organization can't afford Target's margin for error. When your food bank is losing ground to other providers, when your scholarship recipients aren't succeeding, when your programming isn't engaging communities—you don't have three years to see if internal promotion works out.

The questions you need to ask before your next succession:

→ Strategic honesty first: Are you actually achieving your mission effectively? Be brutal here.

→ Internal candidate evaluation: What evidence do you have that your Deputy Director or COO would lead differently than your current approach?

→ Vision vs. operations: Strong operational leaders don't automatically become strong strategic leaders. Different skill sets entirely.

The Bottom Line

Internal promotion can absolutely drive innovation—when boards honestly assess whether existing leadership has capacity for strategic pivot.

Target's board chose continuity over disruption. Time will tell if that was wisdom or wishful thinking.

Your nonprofit deserves more than wishful thinking.

What's your succession plan assuming about your current strategy? And is that assumption serving your mission?

Planning a leadership transition? I help nonprofits navigate succession that actually works. Reply to this email to start the conversation.

P.S. If you found this useful, forward it to another nonprofit leader who needs to think about succession planning. Because most boards wait too long to have these conversations.

About Leaving Well: Providing interim leadership and proactive succession planning for nonprofit organizations. Because your next leadership transition is coming whether you're ready or not. Visit us today.