Beyond the Myths about
“Founder’s Syndrome”
Panel Discussion
NAIS Annual Conference
February 24, 2011
Premise:
One of the demographic realities facing broad swath independent
schools in the next several years is the retirement of a vast cohort of
school heads, presidents, and executive directors who have either
founded or who have served for many years as the schools’ leader.
“When the constellation of circumstances known as Founder’s
Syndrome arises, the Board must assume a leadership role. Often it is
unprepared to so.”
(BoardSource, Moving Beyond Founder’s Syndrome to Nonprofit
Success)
‘Founder’s Syndrome’
“The imbalance of power in a nonprofit organization in favor of the
founding executive that occurs because of the unique advantage of
assembling the board and staff of the organization.”
“Beyond the Myths of ‘Founder’s Syndrome”
Advice to the Board
if you’re not aware of the dynamics of during the transition of longtime or founding head, you’re likely to end up with an interim whether
you know it or not”
“to honor the contributions of the outgoing leader and to ensure a
healthy beginning for the new head, the role of the outgoing head is
carefully considered and delineated by the board.”
(Principles of Good Practice for Leadership Transitions in Episcopal
Schools. )
Panel
Richard K. Jung- Partner Education Access Strategies, Moderator
Lee Quinby-Executive Director for the Association of Colorado
Independent Schools
Insights from experience and interactions with founders and founding
boards in transition
Dick Barbieri- Interim Head
Insights from being an interim in several founder transitions
Kevin Smith- Head of School at Denver Academy
A fascinating case study…if you think you have an interesting
founder’s transition, just listen to this one…..and it has a happy ending.
Mary Kesler- The Education Group
“The Essentials”…What you should know….based on 27 years of Head
search experience
Successful transition from a long-time head, especially
a founder, requires effective attention to three areas
Planning
Acknowledgement
Severance
PLANNING:
Clarify strategic goals.
Plan financial elements.
Design hiring process.
Prepare school community.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
Prepare for letting go.
Mark boundary.
Accept new leadership.
SEVERANCE:
Shift leadership responsibility.
Implement financial elements.
Arrange head consultation.
Make symbolic changes.
Bibliography
Moving Beyond Founder’s Syndrome to Nonprofit Success by Thomas A.
McLaughlin and Addie Nelson Backlund, BoardSource, 2008
Leadership Transition: Some Thoughts on the Process by Mimi Baer,
NAES Newsletter, May 2007
NAES brochure on head of school transitions
NAIS Head Search Handbook
Dick Barbieri
Radical difference between non-profits and businesses in leadership
succession
❑ Business CEOs groom successors
❑ Successful CEOs often remain on boards after stepping down
Of course there are differences and dangers
❑ Business CEOs usually have a continuing financial stake
❑ Occasional horror stories of interference by former heads
But boards have realized the foolishness of losing memory and talent
through too-rapid turnover
❑ Why should we surrender intellectual/experiential capital,
especially as a huge pool of leaders now are retiring?
Barbieri
The norm in fact is too little transition, not too much
❑ My experience: 8 predecessors, 8 successors
❑ Average length of face-to-face transition: 1 to 2 days
❑ Number of successors who have sought any advice or
contact:
1. Frequency: 1 phone call
❑ New heads too often feel they must appear “omni-competent”
❑ Disappearance of former head leaves space for rumors –
a ghostly presence may be worse than a real presence
How Not to Transition
❑ active role for former head
❑ frequent presence on campus
❑ involvement of former head with numerous staff or trustees
How To Transition
❑ clear expectation of ongoing head-to-head contact
❑ initiated by current head
consisting of three possible elements:
• history
• information
• advice
Conclusion: schools live by stories;
don't lose the narrative thread
Founded in 1972
Mission: Lead as a center of excellence for the education
of students with learning differences
Brief History of Leadership at DA:
•Founding Head had a tumultuous ouster in 1992- still in
institutional memory
•I succeeded second Head, 36 years at DA, 16 as the Head
Senior Administration
School groomed its senior leaders- 5 of 7 began as teaching
assistants at DA
Disagreement and Discord Between the Board and Head
Search:
Board identified it was looking for CEO qualities and preferred
an external candidate and an experienced Head
Two internal candidates, neither chosen as finalists, much
concern on staff
Board Decision:
•Search Committee invited an emeritus trustees to join
•At 11th hour, he proposed “encouraging the retiring head to stay on
until he could train a successor” and suggested a large gift if the board
would agree
•Board chose to hire their preferred candidate that matched the
strategic needs of DA
4 transition visits
Listening- groups of staff telling the story of DA- from when first
arrived and contemporary stories (January 2008)I wrote 100 day and 3 year plans on the plane after
Meeting with outgoing Head (skiing) and key administrators- begin
to transition and to build the senior team, continue to meet with
other staff (February)
Meeting with board chair (skiing), meeting with parent groups and
continue to meet with staff (April)
Attend the board’s annual meeting, outline transition with senior
administrators and planned a retreat (May)
Administrative Retreat,
Summer of 2008
“We’ve been Talking
about this for 5 Years”
Top 20 for DA since July 2008:
1 Re-organized Literacy Specialists Program
2 New curricula: elementary math and
writing, MS Writing
3 New elementary formative reading
assessment (DRA)
4 Re-organization of department chairs
5 Comprehensive Employee Evaluation
Process
6 Improved Communication on Campus
through multiple venues
7 Management Training, particularly midlevel managers
8 Effectively networked within DA
community and external agenciesSignificantly increased the profile of our
school locally
9 Produced a substantial surplus through
closer fiscal management
10 Closed a Capital Campaign, renovated one
building
11 Completed the scope and sequence of the
DA Program
1 Completed a comprehensive system of
formal assessment/evaluation for students.
2 Complete planning for a new high school
model and implemented it in 2010
3 DA Parents Association- helping to
transition the organization from a mini
fundraising group to a wider community
asset in order to increase parent
participation on campus and support for
DA programs and initiatives.
4 Completed the Strategic Plan- Data driven
with a Balanced Scorecard of KPIs
5 Raised funds to equip each room with a
SMART Board
6 Moved internal data systems and website
to Blackbaud systems in 2010
7 Raised funds to begin a 1:1 assistive
technology program for 2011
8 Board moved from 10 – 5 meetings! “A
show of support for the strength of our
senior administration”
9 Smooth transition
Keys to the successful Head transition at Denver Academy:
Learn the culture and integrate- easier to work from
within
Take advantage of the “low hanging fruit” and other
opportunities to make fast change
Build a strong partnership with the Board chair and
outgoing Head
Create common vision based on values- 5 Dysfunctions
of a Team Retreat
Be yourself
Don’t be afraid to move assertively to do what is right for
the school- take the opportunity in a new direction
• The founder’s perspective
• Two major events for the founder shaping the
departure
– Retirement
– Leaving the school
• Retirement – facing the unknowns
– Financial
– Relocating
– Loss of support
– What to do with time
Knowing when to retire
• Always wondered how you know its time to
retire/leave your school
– Health issues –
– Lack of excitement for what you’re doing
– Sense of ownership
• Actually developed the top 10 list of -- won’t
bore you with entire list but these were
among my favorites
Now might be the time
• You’re on your 5 strategic plan
• Your great grandchild is entering as a new student this
coming fall
• Faculty turnover is so complete that there is no one
there to say, “But we’ve always done it that way.”
• For the first time in an admissions interview you think
it’s probably OK to accept the unqualified child since
she comes with a
$100,000 check
• Quality of life becomes more
important than time and money
The deep-seated concerns for the longtenured head
•
•
•
•
•
Change culture
Loss of historical perspective
Unfinished projects
Financial implications to the school for change
Accepting that someone else can do the job
The search and transition
• Watching internal
candidates vie for your
job
• Wanting to help and
not being called upon
• Lack of sensitivity
for the outgoing head –
• Combined celebrations
• On campus visits while
you are still there
• Lack of communication about
changes and happenings
• Out of the loop
Goodbye
Some random ideas
• Consider the HOS when candidates are on campus
• Take time to get input from head on their interaction
with the candidates
• Invest in heightened level of retirement planning for
your head (an your faculty)
• Make plans to take the candidate away as new
person arrives
• Understand that no matter how ready the head is to
leave, it is still a very emotional time
Contact Information for the Panel
Richard K. Jung- Partner Education Access Strategies
dick@accesseduc.com
Lee Quinby-Executive Director, Association of Colorado Independent Schools
lquinby@acischools.org
Dick Barbieri- Interim Head
richarde.barbieri@gmail.com
Kevin Smith- Head of School at Denver Academy
ksmith@denveracademy.org
Mary Kesler- The Education Group
mary@educationgroup.com