Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2016
Abstract
Leadership sustainability ultimately rests in the hands of the leader. Critical incident interviews were conducted with twenty "sustainable" and ten "unsustainable" Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of diverse nonprofit organizations, as identified by trusted third party raters. Interviews were also conducted with fifteen spouses from this group of thirty. In addition, the CEOs’ organizations’ IRS Form 990 data was analyzed. A true focus on the organization’s mission, mastery over their relationships, and self-care significantly differentiated the sustainable CEOs from the unsustainable. With no significant differences in demographics, or personal and organizational pressures, the CEO’s perspective and actions directly impacted their capability to maintain personal wellbeing and effective organizational leadership over time. Unsustainable CEOs showed tendencies in becoming enamored with day to day operations, choosing not to redeem negative relationship interactions, and participating in damaging self talk. Steps that purpose-filled individuals leading mission-based organizations can take to be personally well and effective in their leadership roles, as well as sustainable in their wellbeing while experiencing effectiveness longevity, are discussed. Ultimately, sustainability and effectiveness can coexist, if the leader is equipped to stay focused on the mission and properly deal with their significant relationships, not only those with others but also with themselves.
Keywords
nonprofit organizations, management, Weatherhead School of Management, burnout, board of directors, chief executive officer, CEO, energizing, longevity, mission, nonprofit, organizational effectiveness, relationships, renewal, strategic planning, stress, sustainability, unsustainability, wellbeing
Rights
© The Author(s). This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Frey, Jeffrey D., "Nonprofit CEO Sustainability: Maintaining Personal Wellbeing and Effective Organizational Leadership Over the Long Haul" (2016). Student Scholarship. 318.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/318