August 8, 2002 | Read Time: 1 minute
Chief Executive Succession Planning: the Board’s Role in Securing Your Organization’s Future
by Nancy R. Axelrod
The search for a new chief executive can be a labor-intensive, high-stakes rite of passage for a board of directors, says the author of this book, a Washington-based consultant to nonprofit groups.
If a board hasn’t laid the foundation for a smooth transition, she says, “the result can undermine the entire transition process and create lingering casualties.” In this book, she outlines a cycle for finding and hiring a new chief executive, beginning with ample presearch work to determine the organization’s needs and expectations, and ending with a post-appointment transition plan.
Ms. Axelrod urges board members to scrutinize the chief executive’s job, including the competing demands and economic liabilities; to compare compensation levels with similar organizations; and to discuss expectations involved.
“The dirty little secret is that a striking number of chief executives depart as a result of unarticulated feuds between themselves and board members,” she says.
The book also describes how the board can design a communications strategy that keeps staff members informed about the executive search and can create a process for evaluating the chief executive’s and the board’s performances.
Publisher: BoardSource, 1828 L Street, N.W., Suite 900, Washington, D.C. 20036-5114; (202) 452-6262 or (800) 883-6262; fax (202) 452-6299; mail@boardsource.org; http://www.boardsource.org; 67 pages; $39 for members, $52 for nonmembers.
