Here are five mistakes that boards should work very hard to avoid: 1. Delegating Succession Planning to the CEO Selecting the right leader is the most important responsibility of the board, and it should never be delegated to the incumbent leader. As competent as any leader may be, organizations benefit from new thought. The CEO’s …

Bob Russell served as senior pastor of Southeast Christian Church for 40 years before retiring in 2006 and passing the baton to you. Under Bob’s leadership, the church grew from 120 members to one of the largest churches in America, with 18,000 people attending each weekend. What was it like to succeed someone who was …

No one asked him to retire; he decided on his own that it was time. “This is not the first time Gretzky has considered retiring; he talked about it in 1991 and 1993. But each time he has proved too talented; even last year, he led the league in assists. But this year [1999] Gretzky …

In these narratives a midrashic approach (a 2nd-century Jewish interpretation) will discover a variety of “principles,” and one might list them and draw the requisite conclusions. For example, the story of David’s family and the harem-conspiracy conflict that erupted after his death could suggest to the midrashist that before a succession event, the organization needs …

Months later, after a nationwide search, Scott Chin was named as president of the Mission. Chin had followed a common pathway for ministry CEOs: work in the corporate world, shift to a Christ-centered nonprofit, invitation to senior staff at the Mission, and then acceptance of a call to its presidency — in his case, at …