TransitionGuides

Life After Being A Nonprofit Chief Executive

For the successful nonprofit executive, letting go of a fulfilling leadership position can feel both exciting and risky. For most, the dream of no administrative responsibilities or fundraising pressures looks quite appealing. For many, and particularly for founders and long-term executives and organization builders, the big questions are:

• Will life be as interesting and rewarding?
• Will I enjoy not being in charge?

This issue of the Leadership Guide focuses on these questions and invites two successful long-term executives to describe life after founding or leading an organization for many years. These interviews are part of a 2011 series of articles on this and other topics of interest to founders, long-term executives and those who work with them.

For more on resources about these transitions and issues, see chapters 2 and 3 of The Nonprofit Leadership Transition and Development Guide or our TransitionGuides website.

Founders and long-term executives may want to attend the upcoming Next Steps workshop to learn the value and importance of personal and organizational succession planning with peer executives who have the same struggles and questions about letting go when considering their possible transition within the next 5 years.

TransitionGuides had the privilege of interviewing founders and long-term executives who have successfully transitioned from their organizations. We hope sharing their stories, packed with their initial anxieties, preparation and life-after executive leadership is encouraging to those who may be thinking about leaving and to those who are in the process of leaving their organizations. Enjoy!

Bob Kardon

Bob Kardon was the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Santa Cruz Community Counseling Center and the California Association of Nonprofits. Later he followed a founder as Executive Director of the Center for Excellence in Nonprofit (CEN) in San Jose. After retiring from CEN, he also served as an interim executive director for three different organizations.

How did Bob feel when it was time to leave?
"At Counseling Center, I had reached the point where I was tired of 'chasing money and winning contracts,' plus I was ready for a new challenge. When I started to think about moving on, I took about a week for some reflection, meditation and deep thinking about what was next." Something in Bob's entrepreneurial compass saw the opportunity for some collective action on the part of nonprofit organizations-for public policy, for group purchasing and for training and development. Thus, the California Association of Nonprofits (CAN) was born, also helping to spawn a national movement of state association of nonprofits.

"As a founder, I didn't have a lot of fear about what was next, still it was a bit of a leap into the void to go out and start a new organization after having just built one. The Counseling Center provided some office space and support while we were establishing CAN. In any transition, it's important to recognize that you have existing relationships that can support you." One of the lessons that Bob provides is listening to that inner voice that's telling you when it's truly time to move and then having the courage to act on it. Also, a lesson on drawing on your existing relationships to create a support system that facilitates that segue to what's next, whether that's a new organization or building a great life in retirement.

How did Bob prepare the organization for his transition?
Bob gave the Counseling Center a year and a half notice of his departure. This allowed the organization to look internally at who might take over and to begin mentoring possible candidates. The Counseling Center also did a great job in seizing the public relations opportunity that came with the transition. "It was important to us that the community see this transition for what it was -- a positive event for the Center." A staff member, who was a natural born organizer, organized a community celebration that was attended by over 500 people and included a mayoral declaration. Externally it was a great public relations moment and internally it was affirming for both board and staff of what they had built together.

Bob's transition into CEN was interesting in that he was hired first as a consultant to then founding director, Bob Daw. CEN was young and very much in the startup phase. Daw hired Kardon as a consultant to help the organization move more fully into service delivery and to help Daw think about his transition plan. The relationship evolved and eventually Kardon was asked to assume the executive director role, which he agreed to do for a three-year term. Daw's passion was fundraising and he stayed on as the director of development. "When I retired from CEN, we fully embraced the William Bridges model of transition - preparation, neutral zone and new beginning. It really helped us focus our thinking about the transition process. Our facilitator was very adept at keeping us from rushing ahead - taking the time to really plan and prepare."

The "two Bobs" are great testaments to a leadership handoff process that developed organically but very intentionally, and a post-transition partnership that played to each of their strengths. They built CEN into a very effective model for engaging the resources of the corporate community in capacity building for nonprofits.

What has Bob been up to since his transition?
After retiring from CEN, Bob has served as interim executive director for three organizations and is the principal of Kardon & Associates, a Santa Cruz, California-based firm that provides organizational development consultation to nonprofits. For a number of years, Bob has facilitated nonprofit executive director roundtables that provide leaders with a safe space to explore issues they are confronting. Bob enjoys helping coach and mentor younger executives and "being candid about my mistakes." He has also developed a passion for organic gardening with an intensive garden "with 12 different vegetables and various varieties." Bob is a case study taking the time to reflect and identify that powerful idea or passion that's going to draw you forward in the next phase your life-whether that's seizing the idea around which to build a new organization or discovering one's passion for mentoring, gardening and community connections.

What advice would he like to share with other executives?
As the departing executive, I think it's really important to fully recognize your role in preparing the way for your successor. That's a lesson I learned more fully when I served as an interim executive director. In some respects, I wished I had had the benefit of that lesson earlier in my career. Preparing the way is both a mindset and a set of actions. The mindset helps you get above some of the political and emotional fray that can come during times of transition. As interim executive, it made my life very clear. It got me thinking about the possibilities of adopting that mindset as a departing executive regardless of whether you are an interim or a departing founder -- organizing your 'departure work' around the question, what can I do to set things up for my successor to have a worklife that would be better, freer and more creative?"

Bruce Gottschall

Bruce Gottschall was the former Executive Director of Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago (NHS Chicago) from 1975 to 2009. He developed the Neighborhood Housing Services program in 1974 as a charter member of the NeighborWorks Network.

How did Bruce personally prepare for his transition?
Four years prior to his transition, the Fannie Mae Foundation sponsored a yearlong fellowship which required Bruce to be away from his organization to assist other organizations with developing leadership. It was during that year away that Bruce realized that NHS Chicago could keep functioning without him. When Bruce returned from the fellowship, he didn't take on all of the responsibilities he had handed off prior to the fellowship. He realized the staff could maintain their accountability, while freeing him up to do more external outreach. To help prepare himself and the organization for transition, Bruce also attended the Next Steps workshop.

How did Bruce prepare the organization for his transition?
Before he announced his retirement, his board approved an emergency succession planning process to see if there was anyone in the organization who could assume his role in the event of a planned or unplanned departure. This helped create a positive psychological commitment without a firm statement that Bruce was leaving. The process helped NHS Chicago strengthen the capacity of the leadership team to keep the organization strong and viable through the transition. As a result, the organization underwent a formal staff development process with outside consultants, and positions were upgraded with revised job descriptions. Looking back, Bruce thinks it might have been better to let the board know of his intent to leave, earlier than he did, because he heard people wondering if the emergency planning was in preparation for his departure. Bruce does feel that it was the right time to depart from the organization.

What has Bruce been up to since his transition?
Bruce enjoys not having the same daily routine and likes figuring out what he wants to do on any given day. Because there are not so many people depending on him and in need of a response (other than children and grandchildren), he is able to start his day with a book or something he hasn't done before. Over 15 years ago, Bruce received a harmonica as a gift from his children and he is now taking a harmonica class to learn how to play it well. Recently, Bruce took a refresher Spanish course in Guatemala at a four-hour-a-day tutoring school. Bruce misses the organization and would like to be more engaged, but at the annual dinner with over 700 in attendance, he was able to reconnect with many of the staff.

What advice would he like to share with other executives?
Bruce wanted to share this thought with other executives who might be thinking about departing from their organizations: Prepare to leave, but don't focus on working out how you will leave. It will all work out if you prepare. Looking back, Bruce realized he could have stayed with NHS Chicago longer, but he thought about if it would benefit the organization to stay. After carefully and honestly weighing all matters, Bruce knows her left NHS Chicago in good hands.