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:

1. He announced this in May. For a December 31 retirement.
2. It's not automatically good advice to still go into the office after you retire, and it also not always a good idea to move a retiring CEO to the board of directors, with voting rights

This is another one of my long-form articles, dig in and get comfy! If you'd rather read the full article, click here.

Why Warren Buffett's Retirement Matters For Your Organization

Warren Buffett announced that he plans to still go into the office every day, and will be around to offer Abel as much advice as he would like. Let me be direct about something first, before we continue on: I will always recommend departing CEOs and Executive Directors stick around NO longer than two weeks—one month at the most.

The physical presence of an outgoing ED / CEO after transition creates confusion about who's actually in charge, no matter how good the intentions are. New leaders need space to establish authority without the previous ED in the office, at events, or "available to help."

But we won't stick on that topic for the bulk of this email. We'll prioritize instead, the reality that he designed his succession with significant lead time.

Most nonprofit EDs announce departures with 30-90 days notice. That's not succession planning—that's crisis management.

Buffett gave seven months. While staying fully in the CEO role until the actual transition date.

The Announcement Detail Everyone's Talking About

Here's what's interesting: Buffett apparently announced his retirement without Abel having advance knowledge.

"I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year end," Buffett said during Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting in May.

Abel had been the designated successor for years. But everyone assumed he wouldn't take over until after Buffett's death, since Buffett always said he had no plans to retire. The only board members who knew in advance were two of Buffett's children, Howard and Susie.

Abel's response, as reported by AP News: "I just want to say I couldn't be more humbled and honored to be part of Berkshire as we go forward."

That's one heck of a way to find out you're becoming CEO of a trillion-dollar company!! I also do not recommend this tactic, although identifying a successor by name can cause a ripple effect in your organization (which is why this is a topic I counsel my clients about: role vs. name when creating an org's succession plan).

What Seven Months Actually Allows

Think about what your board could do with seven months notice:

Documentation of institutional knowledge that currently lives only in your ED / CEO's head:

• Why did we make that choice back in '09 that still dictates how we handle major org shifts?
• What relationships matter most with which funders?
• What have we tried before that failed and why?
• What's the context behind our strategic priorities?
• What are the unwritten rules (and unspoken culture) that make this place function?

Board preparation for supporting a new executive:

• What does the new leader need from us in month one? Month three? Month six?
• Who specifically owns new / incoming executive support?
• What's our onboarding structure beyond orientation?
• How do we set the new ED / CEO up for success, not just survival?

Organizational readiness assessment:

• What gaps / problems should we address before the new leader comes in?
• What systems need documentation immediately?
• What relationships need intentional transition conversations?
• What would make this role actually sustainable for the next person?

Strategic succession thinking instead of panic hiring:

• What does this role actually need now versus what it needed when we hired our current ED?
• Do we have an updated job description (or one at all) for the ED / CEO?
• Are we setting up the next leader for success or just filling the chair?
• What support structures need to exist that currently don't?
• What's our pipeline development strategy if we don't have an internal candidate?

The Years-Long Capacity Building

Here's the other part most boards miss: Buffett didn't just announce in May for a December transition.

He publicly identified Abel as his successor in 2021. Abel's been managing much of the business lines since 2018.

By the time the May announcement came, Abel had years of operational leadership experience in the role he was about to fully inherit.

That's serious capacity building and leadership development. Not "we'll figure it out once they're in the role."

What Buffett Said About His Own Capacity

Buffett acknowledged his declining energy, balance, vision, hearing, and memory—the very things he'd asked his children to tell him about if they noticed slippage.

Then he made the call himself with this honest statement: "The difference in energy level and just how much [Abel] could accomplish in a 10-hour day compared to what I could accomplish in a 10-hour day—the difference became more and more dramatic."

That's a 95-year-old multi-billionaire with nothing left to prove, making an honest assessment of his own capacity and acting on it with significant lead time.

(Side note: I don't recommend 10-hour days as a norm!)

Can your board have that conversation with your current ED/CEO? Can your current ED/CEO have that honest conversation with themselves?

What Most Nonprofit Boards Actually Do

Compare Buffett's approach to what I see constantly in the nonprofit sector:

Pattern 1: The Crisis Announcement

• Boards who haven't prioritized succession planning at all
• ED announces with 30 days notice (or less)
• Board scrambles to post the job and hire someone
• New executive inherits zero transition support
• Institutional knowledge walks out the door and the staff is left a mess

Pattern 2: The Dangerous Overlap

• Departing leaders who hang around for 3-6 months "to help with transition"
• Role confusion everywhere (who's actually in charge?)
• New executive can't establish authority with previous leader still present
• Staff don't know who to go to for decisions
• Nobody wins

Pattern 3: The Board Seat Trap

• Former ED / CEO stays "on the board"
• Proceed to undermine their successor from a governance seat
• New executive never gets clean space to lead
• "But we've always done it this way" becomes the constant refrain

I've yet to see an example of a nonprofit truly benefit from an outgoing leader moving to be seated as a voting member of the board. Former CEOs on boards create their own complications, and it's messy!

By The Numbers

Nonprofit succession planning rates: 17% in 2011 → 27% by 2024.

That's barely any improvement while burnout hit 95% of leaders.

Meanwhile, 73% of organizations have no succession plans at all beyond "we'll deal with it when our ED says they're leaving."

Research shows new executives experience satisfaction drops after their first year. You know why? Because they're set up to fail. They inherit responsibility without support, context without documentation, and boards expect them to "just figure it out."

The Questions Your Board Should Be Asking

If your ED announced they're retiring in 6-8 months, what would you do with that time?

Most boards have no plan. That's the actual problem.

Answer these honestly:

1. Can your ED/CEO honestly assess their own capacity and timeline for leaving? Or are you waiting for crisis, burnout, or board intervention to force the conversation?
2. If your ED/CEO announced they're leaving in 6-8 months, what would you do with that time? If you can't answer this specifically, that's your succession planning gap.
3. What institutional knowledge exists only in your current leader's head? Start documenting it now, not during a 30-day scramble after they announce departure.
4. Who specifically on your board owns ensuring the new executive gets support in year one? Not "we'll figure it out." Who?
5. What does your organization's version of "capacity building" for succession look like? If you don't have an internal successor ready, what's your pipeline development strategy?

What This Model Isn't

The Berkshire Hathway model is NOT permission (at least not from me!) for departing nonprofit leaders to stick around for months. If anything, it's the opposite.

Clean breaks matter. New leaders need space to establish authority. The departing EDs / CEO's physical presence prevents that, no matter how helpful they're trying to be.

But the Warren Buffett / Berkshire Hathaway transition IS a model for:

✓ Advance notice that allows actual planning (6-8 months when possible, not 30 days)
✓ Intentional documentation of institutional knowledge before departure
✓ Strategic succession thinking years before transition, not crisis-driven replacement hiring

Your Next Steps

For boards:

Stop treating succession planning as "what we'll do after our ED / CEO announces they're leaving."

Start building:

1. Lead time expectations (6-8 months notice when possible)
2. Documentation protocols (start now, not during transition)
3. New executive support structures (who owns this, what does it include)
4. Honest capacity conversations (before crisis forces them)

For current EDs / CEOs:

Can you honestly assess:

1. Whether you're still the right person for this role at this organizational stage?
2. What timeline makes sense for transition if you're approaching capacity limits?
3. What institutional knowledge exists only in your head that needs documentation?
4. What lead time would allow responsible transition versus crisis handoff?

For incoming EDs / CEOs:

Before you accept the role, ask:

1. What support structure exists for new executive onboarding?
2. Will the departing ED / CEO have a clean exit or be "around to help"?
3. What documentation exists about institutional decisions, relationships, and history?
4. Who on the board specifically owns supporting you through year one?

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You can read the full analysis on my website. If you want to talk through what strategic succession design could look like for your organization—with clear boundaries and adequate lead time—I'm here.