Episode Summary

Most nonprofits treat leadership change as an emergency to survive rather than a future to plan for — and the cost of that blind spot is mounting. In this episode, Jeffrey R. Wilcox, CFRE (ret), CEO of Third Sector Company and founder of the Interim Executives Academy, names the “perfect storm” that has left the sector unprepared: taboo conversations about people, resource development defined only as money, a scarcity mindset that turns pipelines into pipe dreams, an unmanaged generational shift, and boards and staff running on separate tracks. Drawing on a career that began at United Way and 25 years building the field of interim leadership, Wilcox reframes succession planning as the stewardship of a purpose rather than the replacement of a person, and makes the case for the professionally trained interim executive as a catalyst — not a stopgap — for organizations bridging their proudest past and their hoped-for future. Listeners will come away with a practical, five-part view of what real succession planning requires, a sharper sense of when an interim is the right call, and a renewed conviction that the sector’s most valuable asset has always been its people.

About Jeffrey

Jeffrey R. Wilcox, CFRE (ret), is CEO of Third Sector Company and founder of its Interim Executives Academy and Interim Development Directors BootCamp, and a nationally recognized pioneer in leadership succession solutions for community-impact organizations. An author, columnist, and popular speaker, he advises nonprofits, trade and professional associations, and congregations on succession planning, talent development and retention, and strategic interim executive solutions. His early career was spent at United Way, including as Senior Vice President of Community Development for the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, where he watched countless organizations treat leadership change as a surprise, a project, and an interruption — an experience that became the impetus for the firm he founded in 2002. Since then, Third Sector Company has served more than 900 organizations across the West Coast, Southwest, Pacific Northwest, and Western Canada, and was named a “Top 10” Interim Executive Services firm by Manage HR Magazine in 2023 and 2024; its Academy is the oldest and longest-running certificate program of its kind in the U.S. and Canada. The former nonprofit columnist for the Long Beach Business Journal, Wilcox authored The Nonprofit Leader of the New Decade in 2010 and remains a tireless advocate for returning nonprofit leadership to its cause-based, movement-focused, activist-driven roots.

Resources  

• Jeffrey R. Wilcox on LinkedIn

• Third Sector Company — thirdsectorcompany.com

• Interim Executives Academy — interimexecutivesacademy.com

• Brains on Fire: Igniting Powerful, Sustainable, Word of Mouth Movements by Robbin Phillips, Greg Cordell, Geno Church, and Spike Jones (Wiley, 2010) — Jeffrey’s book recommendation

• Follow Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership — and please leave a review!

• Access Armstrong McGuire leadership development resources

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