by Neel Hajra, President/CEO
It’s time to pass on a few lessons learned in hopes of empowering other up-and-coming leaders out there. I assumed the CEO role in the summer of 2008 after seven years of program and management work at NEW. The bulk of my experience was as Chief Operating Officer, so in some sense the conditions for a smooth CEO transition were ideal. However, in practice the learning curve (and decline of the economy!) has been steeper than I anticipated . So, without further dramatizing, here are just a few lessons learned, with more to come:
- The chief executive role is DIFFERENT: I know what you’re thinking: “yeah, yeah, every role is different.” Actually, not really. I’ve done program work, development work, executive management, and served as a board member. I’ve worked in nonprofit and for-profit environments. NOTHING approximates the experience of being at the head of an organization: The pressures, challenges, and rewards combine in a way that can’t be replicated through other roles. So when you assume the top leadership position, you will experience a shock to your system.
- No one cares as much as you do: This may sound like a knock on everyone else, but actually it’s not at all. I am lucky to have an outstanding staff and strong board, plus a huge range of external resources that help NEW succeed. What I mean is that there’s only one person who can truly push forward an organization’s total agenda: you. You can (and should!) empower and entrust folks within and outside and organization to further your nonprofit’s mission. However, all the resources and allies in the world still won’t matter if you don’t push constantly to move things forward. You will realize that all roads lead back to you, even when you don’t want them to.
- Your good habits become bad ones: I realized very early on that habits I developed as a program manager and COO were actually counterproductive in the CEO role. Deep involvement in operations? Bad. A ‘to do’ list mentality? Bad. Sweating the small stuff? Bad. You will have to “unlearn” practices that helped make you successful in the first place.
- Governance work is time-consuming: Despite watching my predecessor maintain a strong board of directors, I really didn’t appreciate how much time it takes to evolve, maintain, and engage a strong board. Executive management of the governance function is the “dark matter” of the nonprofit world – it’s there, but no one really appreciates just how much there is (even with an outstanding board chair). You will be surprised at just how much time it takes to maintain strong governance.
Well, I could go on and on, but we pay for blog posts by the word. Okay, not really… more to come soon!










