Leadership Change: Here's How to Make It as Painless as Possible

“We find that almost two-thirds of boards [we work with] don’t have a succession plan in place for the current CEO,” Tandon says, whose institute works with nonprofits on strategy, solutions and staffing.

That’s a vital mistake, as Nardizzi can attest to. When he took over as CEO for Wounded Warrior Project, the organization did not have a succession plan in place, which made it difficult as a young, growing organization to keep things moving quickly. Thus, the decision on a new leader did not go at a swift pace, and the organization learned the hard way that it needed to be better prepared in the future.