E.D. Notes for The Field: Four Keys to a Successful Executive Director Transition

The old adage, “All Good Things Must Come to an End,” is certainly true (eventually) for every job we hold, including your role as an executive director. Although maybe in place of Good Things we should say Difficult Things, Challenging Things, Frustrating Things, or Exhausting Things. In fact, any successful leadership experience is all those things, as well as Satisfying, Rewarding, and Impactful. It’s a tough job — as you well know.

As readers of this blog may also know, I spent sixteen years as E.D. of EBAC, a nonprofit children’s mental health organization in Oakland, before founding La Piana Consulting in 1998. That means I’ve been in a leadership role for, wait for it. . .forty-three years. Yikes!

Recently, I stepped down from the Managing Partner role at our firm in favor of Onuka Ibe, a terrific long-time Partner. I’m still here, but these days I have more time for reflection while Onuka leads the team. So, here are some thoughts on what makes a leadership transition work.

First, there are two types of voluntary transitions (a third type of transition is involuntary, but that’s a topic for another time). Some transitions occur when the E.D. decides it is time to move on to the next challenge.

This is why I left EBAC. I was twenty-seven years old when the board hired me. At the time, we served just 20 kids in one program. When I left sixteen years later, we served 5,000 kids and their families in a range of programs. Why did I leave a job leading an organization I loved that had a great staff, a supportive board, and was a ten-minute drive from home? Honestly, I had run out of ideas. I realized the problems I could not solve required a different leader. EBAC needed that new energy and fresh perspective, while it was time for me to stop beating my head against immovable walls — principally our reliance on a medical funding model to treat traumatized children whose primary problem was multigenerational poverty. This was not an easy decision. My commitment to these kids was both professional and highly personal, having myself grown up in similar circumstances. But it was time.

The second type of voluntary (if inevitable) transition is retirement. You get to a point where you are ready to either close or dramatically reduce your work life in favor of other pursuits. This moment comes sooner for some than others. Handing over the firm’s reins to Onuka was the first major step in this direction for me.

I’ve advised many leaders of small to large organizations around both types of transition. Several years ago, I even created the Senior Executive Career Workbook to help leaders think through their next steps. Initially it was a project for Cecile Richards[1], the former CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, when she was considering her next steps, but it has since found a wide audience.

From my own transitions and from helping others with theirs, I’ve learned that four key points can make all the difference. These might help you to think about organizing your next transition or to helping your organization through a leader’s.

Plan ahead. Leaders too often keep their evolving plans to themselves until they are ready to announce to board and staff they will leave in six months. They worry about becoming a lame duck. While there is some merit to this concern, a larger point can get lost. That is, your departure will be a big deal for both you and your organization. It will also be a time of great organizational risk. You can balance these concerns through a practice I recommend to all E.D.s, including those not planning their departure anytime soon: The Emergency Succession Plan. When you and your board and senior team begin thinking about what would happen if you were suddenly unavailable, you’ll discover good ideas such as building your leadership team’s capacity, creating an internal leadership pipeline, and sharing information, relationships, and leadership widely within the organization. These also happen to be great precursors to a planned transition, even if it is years off, and framing the discussion in this way doesn’t tip your hand.

Early planning need not be GANTT Chart-specific, but should explore the organization’s strength programmatically, financially, in its governance, and culturally. You are likely to identify weaknesses that might take months or even years to rectify, without signaling your transition plans before you are ready. Some E.D.s worry that initiating succession planning can weaken their position, as the board starts to think about what it might want in the next leader. I’m sorry, but if your position with the board is that precarious, you have bigger problems. (Don’t despair, call us.)

Consider both your needs and the organization’s. E.D.s too often think about their transition from either a purely personal perspective (what do I want to do next? What’s the best timing for me?), or from a purely organizational perspective (what’s best for my nonprofit?). You should consider both.

Since this is your job and your life, begin by thinking about what you want and need. This is entirely legitimate. It might involve conversations with family and friends rather than board and coworkers. Is it time to retire? Are you growing bored or frustrated or burned out? Or like me at EBAC, did you simply run out of ideas and energy for the fight?

Try this exercise: Imagine it is 2 years from now and you have left your job, whether to retire or to pursue your next professional challenge. Write out in as much detail as you can what you are doing, what you like about it, what you might miss about your old job, and any worries — financial, psychological, or in your primary relationships.

Then ask: Is this future satisfying? Is this what you want to leave your current job for? Does the gain offset what you lose by leaving?

With this pro forma future in hand, flip the script. Ask how getting what you want will impact your team, the mission, and your constituents. Even if your departure will be hard for the organization, you need to do what is right for you. You just might need to modify it a bit in balancing personal and organizational concerns.

A few years ago, I advised the long-time CEO of a large, well-known nonprofit on his retirement. Before I got involved, he had let his board and staff know his timeline and plan. However, as we worked together, and I worked with his leadership team and board, I urged him to delay his retirement by a full year in order to get the organization over a major hump. Considering my suggestion, he took a deep breath and agreed he could not leave on his original timeline. Everyone was relieved — everyone except internal candidates for his job! A year later, he retired as planned, the board made a smooth transition to a new (externally sourced) leader, and he is now engaged in other interesting pursuits.

So, start with your needs. It’s not selfish, it’s natural. But realize you may need to bend your ideal plan to leave the organization you love strong and thriving. That way you can continue to take satisfaction in your organization’s successes long after you leave. Since I left EBAC 27 years ago to become a consultant, it has nearly quadrupled in size. I like to think the strong culture and financial health I left behind had a small part in enabling this growth.

Support the Board’s effort to find the next leader, but from a distance. Successful E.D.s tend to manage nearly everything for the board. However, you should recognize that picking your successor should not be one of those things. Help the board surface names of search firms if they are going that route, but please, do not serve on the search committee or guide the process. Keep an arm’s length from the whole business. As the search narrows to a couple top candidates, they will probably want to meet with you, and the board will probably ask your opinion of the finalists. That’s fine, offer your take, but remember — you don’t get a vote. This distance is more than good form. Crucially, it demonstrates to the board that you really are leaving and that decisions going forward are theirs, not yours. It rewires the board and staff to start thinking about a future without you.

I recently supported a founder transition of the retirement variety. After 20 years, the board was accustomed to following and supporting a terrific leader. But when it came to the search, both the board and the E.D. knew this had to change. My role shifted from executive coach and board advisor to organizing and managing the search process. I identified search firms and helped the board with vetting and selection, allowing the E.D. to stay out of it. Then they asked me to serve on the search committee. A new E.D. was unanimously selected, the retiring E.D. could not have been happier with the choice (an internal candidate), and the board stepped up in a new way, realizing it would need to be more active post-founder.

Don’t serve on the Board. You’ve planned your transition, the board has selected your successor, and you are about to step away, either to your next job or to retirement. Congratulations! But now, the board chair has a great idea: So we don’t lose your experience and wisdom, why don’t you join the board? Of course this is flattering. It is also a terrible idea. You leave big shoes to fill. The new leader needs to establish their independent voice and to build their influence. They need to make your organization theirs. But if the board turns to you for a second opinion on every change the new leader seeks, and staff come to you, now a board member, with complaints about those changes, you can end up unintentionally undermining their leadership.

Similarly, some E.D.s plan for an extended overlap with the new leader. I’ve seen arrangements where the former E.D. is on site for up to a year in a vaguely defined role intended to “help” the new leader. This is not helpful. Any E.D. worth their salt is not going to need or want you looking over their shoulder. I’ll tell you what is helpful — give the new E.D. your number and say Call me, anytime. Then, don’t call them. Not with hot tips, or to pass on rumors or complaints that have made their way to you, or to ask for clarification on some new initiative they have launched. Let your successor initiate any calls.

EBAC has had several E.D.s since I left so long ago. Every one of them has reached out with questions of the “Why is this like this” variety. Each time I have provided background and context they can’t get from the files. Last year, EBAC created a video history on its 70^th anniversary and graciously invited me to participate. I was gratified that a segment where I talked about the organization’s ancient history made the final cut. If it had been left out, I would have been disappointed, but I would not have called to complain. Those decisions belong to others now.

[1] We lost Cecile Richards far too young to brain cancer in January 2025. She left PPFA to co-found Supermajority and had so much more to give. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/20/us/cecile-richards-dead-planned-parenthood.html