November 13, 2008 | Read Time: 2 minutes
NEW BOOKS
Working Across Generations: Defining the Future of Nonprofit Leadership
by Frances Kunreuther, Helen Kim, and Robby Rodriguez
Over the next decade, more than 640,000 senior positions at nonprofit groups will become vacant, as a wave of baby boomers retires and nonprofit groups expand their operations. Stepping into their shoes will be members of Generation X and the even younger Millennial Generation.
“The transition will hit hard, and nonprofits that do not prepare for leadership and generation change may find that their very survival is at risk,” write the authors, Frances Kunreuther, founder of the Building Movement Project, in New York, which works with nonprofit groups on the issue of generational change in leadership; Helen Kim, a nonprofit consultant; and Robby Rodriguez, executive director of the SouthWest Organizing Project, an activist group in Albuquerque.
Their book provides an overview of the characteristics and working styles of the baby boomers, Generation Xers, and “millennials,” and suggests ways in which members of each can best work together. For example, write the authors, baby boomers should plan for and support younger leaders and be prepared to cede some power and control in the years before they retire. Millennials should be willing to respect and learn from the contributions of older leaders, but should also introduce new ideas and ways to work.
One chapter offers baby boomers in senior positions advice and exercises designed to prepare them for retirement and new leadership at the nonprofit group.
Another chapter examines the “organizational malaise” and ambivalence about leadership that Generation X employees may feel, squeezed as they are between powerful long-time leaders and younger, eager staffers.
The authors suggest how younger generations can work to change some of the less appealing aspects of top jobs at nonprofit groups, such as low pay and benefits, and how they can prevent future burnout. They also give guidelines on how younger and older workers can cultivate fruitful mentoring relationships.
Each chapter includes exercises and discussion subjects that members of each generation can use when thinking or talking about the leadership shift.
Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 989 Market Street, San Francisco, Calif. 94103; (800) 956-7739; fax (317) 572-4002; http://www.josseybass.com; 224 pages; $29.95; ISBN 978-0-470-19548-2..
