Eleven Principles for Successful Successions:
"Every CEO Is an Interim CEO"
Here are additional resources, as referenced in the Facilitator Guide: Click here to download the Facilitator Guide.
Delegate Your Reading!
Many of the following books and resources are referenced in the videos and/or in the Board Member Read-and-Engage Viewing Guide. Your organization is unique and your board members are blessed and gifted with unique backgrounds, experiences and competencies—so one size (or book) doesn’t fit all.
Consider selecting three, four, or five books or articles that might be most applicable to your current situation and needs—and delegate your reading to other board members, asking them to share brief reviews at your next board or committee meeting.
Why so many books and resources? See Dan Busby’s reference to Hans Finzel’s wisdom on page 3 of the Read-and-Engage Viewing Guide. Finzel writes, “Consume a regular diet of resources that help you grow. Read great books and articles, and listen to CDs and podcasts. Constantly sharpen your leadership game.”
VIDEO #1: Avoid Buses and Boredom!
INTRODUCTION
Book: Passing the Leadership Baton: A Winning Transition Plan for Your Ministry, by Tom Mullins. Click here to order.
- “We all need a coach during a transition season,” says former football coach and pastor, Tom Mullins. Read Chapter 2, “The Baton Is Not Yours to Keep: Keeping the Right Perspective.”
Book: Stewards of a Sacred Trust: CEO Selection, Transition and Development for Boards of Christ-centered Organizations, by David L. McKenna. Click here to order.
- The book features informative and accountability-focused checklists at the end of each chapter: 22 chapters, 22 checklists. The lists alone are worth the price of the book. McKenna writes, “Election of the CEO separates Christ-centered organizations from other organizations because it is a sacred trust. While the professional standards for the search process must be the same for all organizations, Christ-centered organizations have a spiritual dimension that cannot be denied.”
PRINCIPLE 1: AVOID BUSES AND BOREDOM! In-the-Trenches Board Story
Download: ECFA Bonus Resource: “Board Policies for Executive Transitions (Including Emergency Transitions)” Click here to download.
- Includes a sample “CEO Transitions” policy for the board to review, edit and approve.
- Plus: a next steps checklist for drafting an “Emergency Leadership Transition Plan”
Download: ECFA Bonus Resource: “Board Policies for Succession Planning (The On-going, Continuous Process)” Click here to download.
- Includes a sample “CEO Transitions” policy for the board to review, edit and approve.
- Plus, a worksheet on drafting the board’s “CEO Succession Plan Guidelines”
Book: NEXT: Pastoral Succession That Works, by William Vanderbloemen and Warren Bird. Click here to order.
- While focused on leadership successions in churches, the principles are highly relevant to nonprofit board members. Chapter titles include: “The ‘Ten Commandments’ of Succession Planning,” “Deciding When It’s Time to Leave,” “Four Church Cultures, Four Succession Styles,” “Founder’s Syndrome,” “What Happened at the Crystal Cathedral and First Baptist Dallas,” and 12 other must-read chapters.
Book: The Power of Passion in Leadership: Lead From Your Heart Not Just Your Head, by Hans Finzel. Click here to order.
- Powerful and transparent—in just 73 pages! “The number one issue for me was passion. My heart was no longer engaged in my job—the fire had gone out. My heart had left the building.”
Board Engagement Exercise: ECFA Bonus Resource: “10 Guidelines for Listening Well,” by Ruth Haley Barton. Click here to download.
- See the Facilitator Guide for a board engagement exercise.
VIDEO #2: Starting Succession on the Right Foot
PRINCIPLE 2: DISCERN YOUR BOARD'S SUCCESSION VALUES AND BELIEFS
Book: The Steward Leader: Transforming People, Organizations and Communities, by R. Scott Rodin. Click here to order.
- Sometimes an author comes along with new insights and whack-your-head labels that open your eyes (and heart) to deeper truths—life-changing truths. Rodin does that with this book and his convicting message. When you finish the book, you’ll intuitively recognize the chasm between “steward leaders” and “owner-leaders.”
Book: Stewards of a Sacred Trust: CEO Selection, Transition and Development for Boards of Christ-centered Organizations, by David L. McKenna (see Introduction). Click here to order.
Article: “Succession Planning: Ensuring Successful Ministry Leadership Transitions,” by Bruce Dingman, David Gyertson and Richard Kidd (Outcomes, Winter 2014). Click here to download.
- The authors list seven key questions for successful leadership transitions, including “How Well Are We Leading?” and “What’s Our Current Reality?”
PRINCIPLE 3: INSPIRE YOUR CEO TO THRIVE WITH A GOD-HONORING LIFESTYLE
Book: NEXT: Pastoral Succession That Works, by William Vanderbloemen and Warren Bird (see Principle 1). Click here to order.
Book: When Work and Family Collide: Keeping Your Job from Cheating Your Family, by Andy Stanley. Click here to order.
- Boards need to monitor if their leaders live in ways that make their “occupations also their preoccupations.” (And if so, boards must address this—with grace.) With all the demands of the ministry and all the details of a family, it’s only a matter of time before one bumps into the other. And many CEOs end up cheating their families when the commitments of both collide. Here’s help.
Book: Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, by Richard A. Swenson, M.D. Click here to order.
- “Marginless is fatigue. Margin is energy. Marginless is red ink; margin is black ink. Marginless is hurry; margin is calm. Marginless is anxiety; margin is security. Marginless is culture; margin is counterculture. Marginless is the disease of the new millennium; margin is the cure.”
PRINCIPLE 4: MODEL SUCCESSFUL SUCCESSION IN THE BOARDROOM FIRST
Book: Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards, by Richard T. Ingram. Click here to order.
- Here’s the classic list of 10 board responsibilities from BoardSource, including “Build a Competent Board.” When a board strives for excellence, it inspires the CEO and senior team to excel also.
Video/Toolbox: ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 1: Recruiting Board Members. Click here to view.
- Your current CEO and your future CEO will both appreciate serving a board that spiritually discerns the selection of future board members. This toolbox addresses four key areas: cultivation, recruitment, orientation, and engagement.
Book: Breakthrough: Unleashing the Power of a Proven Plan, by Randon A. Samelson. Click here to order.
- Your next CEO will want to know if the board owns the organization’s strategy and whether the strategic plan is a living, breathing document—or in a fat binder on the shelf. This book will inspire your plan with fresh insights from 1 Chronicles 28-29.
VIDEO #3: Pray and Plan Now!
PRINCIPLE 5: DELEGATE SUCCESSION PLANNING TO THE APPROPRIATE COMMITTEE
Book: Stewards of a Sacred Trust: CEO Selection, Transition and Development for Boards of Christ-centered Organizations, by David L. McKenna (see Introduction). Click here to order.
Book: Chief Executive Succession Planning: Essential Guidance for Boards and CEOs, by Nancy R. Axelrod. Click here to order.
- This is the “go-to” resource from BoardSource. In just 67 pages, it outlines why succession planning must precede executive transitions; five key succession planning steps prior to an executive search; six key issues for the board to address during the executive search, and much more. The eight-page appendix is excellent and includes a two-page “Emergency Leadership Transition Plan.”
Book: Boards That Lead: When to Take Charge, When to Partner, and When to Stay Out of the Way, by Ram Charan, Dennis Carey and Michael Useem. Click here to order.
- Excellent checklists and practical wisdom! Example: Boards should ask new CEOs to draft a succession plan immediately (and the annual self-assessment should measure progress). Plus, 10 principles for finding the right CEO (Warning: “Review outside consultants carefully to prevent conflicts of interest.”). In Checklist 12: “Retaining, Reviving or Relieving the Chief Executive,” the authors ask “Are performance metrics and severance terms well in place before advancing toward dismissal?”
Book: NEXT: Pastoral Succession That Works, by Vanderbloemen and Bird (see Principle 1). Click here to order.
PRINCIPLE 6: INVEST IN GROWING YOUR LEADERS (Every Leader Needs a Coach)
Book: What You Do Best in the Body of Christ: Discover Your Spiritual Gifts, Personal Style and God-Given Passion, by Bruce Bugbee. Click here to order.
- The best boards will help their CEOs to leverage their God-given spiritual gifts. And board chairs will do the same for their board members.
Book: StrengthsFinder 2.0, by Tom Rath. Click here to order.
- Gallup’s bestselling book identifies 34 talent themes—and no one CEO is strong in all 34 themes, so the best boards ensure that there is a strengths-based culture in place and will appreciate CEOs that know and leverage their own strengths. Per Gallup, “…our studies indicate that people who do have the opportunity to focus on their strengths every day are six times as likely to be engaged in their jobs and more than three times as likely to report having an excellent quality of life in general.”
Book: Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams and Why People Follow, by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie. Click here to order.
- A companion resource to StrengthsFinder 2.0, this book categorizes the 34 talent themes into four areas: Executing, Relationship Building, Influencing, and Strategic Thinking. The best boards look at board member strengths before making committee and task force assignments.
Website: https://tracom.com/social-style-training/model/ (Tracom® Group: the 4 behavioral styles of Analytical, Driving, Amiable, Expressive).
- While some boards and CEOs prefer Myers-Briggs, DISC, or other behavioral constructs, many leaders appreciate “social styles” because the four words describe the behavior—and once the system is learned, the benefits of understanding people styles are immediate. Don German: “A key principle of understanding social styles is this: There is no good or bad style!”
Book: Leadership Briefs: Shaping Organizational Culture to Stretch Leadership Capacity, by Dick Daniels. Click here to order.
- Read the short chapter, “Formulas for Succession Planning.” Dick Daniel’s formula is: “Time + Learning Plan = Transformational Development.”
Book: The Talent Masters: Why Smart Leaders Put People Before Numbers, by Bill Conaty & Ram Charan. Click here to order.
- Assignment: explain Steve Job’s distinguishing talent (without using buzzwords). The six pages on “Calibrating Steve Jobs” is, literally, worth the price of the book—it will change your thinking forever on what the co-authors call “searching for the specifics” in talent. Plus, “Talent masters assess and express what each person is in reality, not against some predetermined checklist.” And this caution: “In a fast-changing business, the person who is right for a job today may be wrong in a year or even six months.”
Website: https://milestoneleadership.com/pages/about. (Milestone Leadership: insights on coaching).
- Check out the articles and resources on executive development and coaching, and enjoy this short video, “Office Humor: Succession Planning.” – https://youtu.be/y89Hu9nlpcU
Book: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: Discover the 20 Workplace Habits You Need to Break, by Marshall Goldsmith with Mark Reiter. Click here to order.
- “The higher you go [in your career], the more your problems are behavioral.” The appendix features a “Global Leadership Inventory” that can be used as a 360-feedback assessment. Respondents are asked to rate their leaders on a five-point scale from Highly Satisfied to Highly Dissatisfied. (Example: #44: “Asks people what he/she can do to improve.”) This is worth the price of the book.
PRINCIPLE 7: TRUST GOD AND DISCERN DIRECTION! Wisdom on Ending Well
Book: Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry, by Ruth Haley Barton. Click here to order.
- Read Chapter 12, “Finding God’s Will Together,” and review the excerpts on page 5 of the Facilitator Guide. Example: “Romans 12:2 indicates that the ability to discern the will of God is a natural byproduct of spiritual transformation in community.”
Book: Pursuing God’s Will Together: A Discernment Practice for Leadership Groups, by Ruth Haley Barton. Click here to order.
- “Many of us have been taught that leadership is having the answer, and we come into meetings we are leading prepared to bestow that wisdom on our trusty followers; we might ask God for wisdom in a prayer that sounds very spiritual, but the truth is, there isn’t much room for God to do or say anything other than what we already have in mind.”
Board Engagement Exercise: “ECFA Bonus Resource: 10 Guidelines for Listening Well,” by Ruth Haley Barton (see Principle 1). Click here to download.
Book: Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward, by Dr. Henry Cloud. Click here to order.
- Dr. Cloud defines the pruning moment as “that clarity of enlightenment when we become responsible for making the decision to own the vision or not. If we own it, we have to prune. If we don’t, we have decided to own the other vision, the one we called average. It is a moment of truth that we encounter almost every day in many, many decisions.”
VIDEO #4: Every CEO Is an Interim CEO
PRINCIPLE 8: PLAN FOR PLAN A—YOUR CEO RETIRES
Checklists: The first three books listed in Principle 5 have helpful succession planning checklists.
Checklist: Download the expanded “ECFA Bonus Resource: Checklist for Plan A: Your CEO Retires.” Click here to download.
Book: The Leader’s Legacy, by David L. McKenna. Click here to order.
- Very helpful insight, including: “Timing Our Leave,” “Completing Our Task,” “Celebrating Our Successor,” and “Making Our Exit.”
Book: Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance, by Bob P. Buford. Click here to order.
- While written for marketplace men and women, the principles are very applicable for ministry CEOs looking towards retirement, especially Buford’s concept of “low-cost probes” towards the next venture.
Book: The Hero’s Farewell: What Happens When CEOs Retire, by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld. Click here to order.
- Here’s a fascinating look at four types of CEO retirement transitions: monarchs, generals, ambassadors and governors. Warning! “Monarchs leave their thrones only through their death, ill health, or as with [Boston Consulting Group’s Bruce] Henderson, a palace revolt.”
Article: “The Last Act of a Great CEO," by Thomas J. Friel and Robert S. Duboff (Harvard Business Review, Jan. 2009). Click here to order.
- Interviews with Fortune 500 company CEOs who have returned, plus frank and humorous insights from their spouses! “Too many new leaders fail to make use of a priceless asset the hard-won knowledge of the executives they’re replacing.”
Chapter: “When It’s Time to Retire,” Chapter 38 in The Essential Engstrom: Proven Principles of Leadership, by Ted W. Engstrom (Timothy J. Beals, Editor). Click here to order.
- “One of the most deadly enemies of life is a lack of purpose. Too many people set a goal to begin retirement, but no goal as to what they will accomplish or become as a result of retirement. Goals are powerful motivators. At 63 we need goals for 70. At 68, we need goals for 75.”
PRINCIPLE 9: PLAN FOR PLAN B—YOUR CEO RESIGNS
Checklist: Download the expanded “ECFA Bonus Resource: Checklist for Plan B: Your CEO Resigns.” Click here to download.
Book: Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, by William Bridges. Click here to order.
- “It isn’t the changes that do you in, it’s the transitions. Change is not the same as transition. Change is situational: the new site, the new boss, the new team roles, the new policy. Transition is the psychological process people go through to come to terms with the new situation.” He adds, “Change is external. Transition is internal.”
Book: The Succession Principle: How Leaders Make Leaders, by David L. McKenna. Click here to order.
- Wow! Read Chapter 2, “The Prayer of Succession,” based on the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus in John 17.
Book: Leaders at All Levels: Deeping Your Talent Pool to Solve the Succession Crisis, by Ram Charan. Click here to order.
- Ram Charan (also a bestselling author on governance) says the apprenticeship model (with ever-increasing job responsibilities) must be in place to build a robust talent pool across the organization. “The CEO job requires giant leaps in learning. Leaders will not be prepared to lead large companies unless each job is much more complex than the one before.”
Article: “The Proper Care and Handling of Internal Candidates,” by Bruce Dingman (3-page monograph from The Dingman Company). Click here to download.
- Give this article to every senior team member—ASAP—when your CEO search is announced. “As a side note, one phenomenon we often encounter is the propensity for people to compare themselves to the former executive whose position is being recruited for, instead of comparing themselves to the actual job profile.”
PRINCIPLE 10: PLAN FOR PLAN C—YOUR CEO IS TERMINATED
Checklist: Download the expanded “ECFA Bonus Resource: Checklist for Plan C: Your CEO Is Terminated.” Click here to download.
Book: Owning Up: The 14 Questions Every Board Member Needs to Ask, by Ram Charan. Click here to order.
- Read the entire book, but especially Question 4, “Are We Well Prepared to Name Our Next CEO?”
Book: Boards That Lead: When to Take Charge, When to Partner, and When to Stay Out of the Way, by Ram Charan, Dennis Carey and Michael Useem (see Principle 5). Click here to order.
Book: Rumsfeld’s Rules: Leadership Lessons in Business, Politics, War, and Life, by Donald Rumsfeld. Click here to order.
- Rumsfeld’s “rules” include more than 400 quotable insights on leadership, hiring/firing, growing leaders, and measuring results. “If you are not prepared to live with the fact that your actions may lead to failure, then you probably ought not to be in leadership.” And this: “A’s hire A’s. B’s hire C’s.” And: “Never hire anyone you can’t fire.”
Book: The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate the Three Essential Virtues, by Patrick Lencioni. Click here to order.
- "Humility is the single greatest and most indispensable attribute of being a team player."
Book: The Nonprofit Board Answer Book: A Practical Guide for Board Members and Chief Executives, Third Edition (published by BoardSource). Click here to order.
- This helpful book includes 85 short chapters, including: “How can we facilitate the end of a chief executive’s employment?” “What characteristics should we look for in a new chief executive?” and “How do we find a new chief executive?” (Note: The first edition was authored by Ted Engstrom and Bob Andringa.)
Book: Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward, by Dr. Henry Cloud (see Principle 7). Click here to order.
Book: A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness, by Gene Edwards. Click here to order.
- Gene Edwards is a master storyteller and this classic unwraps the relationships between David, Saul and Absalom. The best time to talk about God-honoring leadership and followership is when things are going well—not in the middle of a difficult termination.
BONUS PRINCIPLE 11: DISCERN IF A SEARCH FIRM WOULD BE HELPFUL
Book: You're Not the Person I Hired! A CEO's Survival Guide to Hiring Top Talent, by Janet Boydell, Barry Deutsch and Brad Remillard. Click here to order.
- Board members will also benefit from this insightful book. The Number One hiring mistake: “Inadequate job descriptions drove the hiring process; these focused solely on experience and skills, not company expectations. A staggering 93 percent of searches that resulted in new executive failure made this mistake at the outset.”
Book: The Perfect Search: What Every Nonprofit Board Member Needs to Know About Hiring Their Next CEO, by Tommy Thomas, with Nick Isbister and Robert C. Andringa. Click here to order.
- Why do people make such poor hiring decisions? What are the factors that influence the quality of the pool of candidates? Who should check references? What about background investigations? How do you handle internal candidates? How and where should you interview candidates, including the final candidate? Should you use a search firm?
Article: “Differences Between Search Firms,” by Bruce Dingman (4-page monograph from The Dingman Company). Click here to download.
- “When selecting a search firm, only deal with the recruiter who says he or she will be working with you and will have personally interviewed all candidates presented.”
ACTION STEPS FOR OUR BOARD
Book: The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter, by Michael D. Watkins. Click here to order.
- What kind of organization will your next CEO inherit? The author says there are four broad types of organizational situations—and there are risks when hiring leaders without relevant experience. The four types (S.T-A.R.S.): Start-up, Turn-Around, Realignment, and Sustaining Success. A must read for both the board and the new CEO!
READ-AND-ENGAGE VIEWING GUIDES, VIDEOS, AND BONUS RESOURCES
Bonus resources from the first three ECFA Governance Toolbox Series are posted on hidden webpages at:
Website: ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 1: Recruiting Board Members. Click here to view.
Website: ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 2: Balancing Board Roles. Click here to view.
Website: ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 3: Conflicts of Interest. Click here to view.