The New Executive Director's Survival Guide

You've just stepped into the most demanding, least understood leadership role in the social sector. You're expected to be a visionary and an accountant, a fundraiser and a therapist, a servant to the board and a leader of staff. Your budget is inadequate, your time is insufficient, and everyone has opinions about what you should do first. This guide won't make the job easy—nothing can—but it will help you survive the first 90 days and build the foundation for sustainable leadership.

You might have been promoted from within. Yesterday you were a program director; today you're responsible for everything, including managing people who used to be your peers. Or you came from outside—another nonprofit, the corporate sector, maybe government—and you're learning a new organization's culture while simultaneously leading it.

Either way, you face the same reality: the organization needs you to perform immediately, but you lack the institutional knowledge, relationships, and systems to perform well. You're making consequential decisions with incomplete information while everyone watches to see what kind of leader you'll be.

This guide is for first-time Executive Directors who don't have the luxury of a long learning curve. Your board expects results. Your staff needs direction. Your funders want assurance. You need a framework that acknowledges these pressures without pretending there are easy answers.