Arriving CEOs often find greater-than-expected challenges; board and staff at new association may not know the way forward

Woods

Feb. 19, 2021
By William Ehart

Lakisha Woods found staff at her new association working on antiquated software and lacking the skills the organization needed. Dan LaBert found lax financial controls and declining membership at a group that had grown complacent living off of its reserves.

You never know what you’re going to get when you take that new association CEO job. And the pandemic has exposed fundamental problems that some associations were able to ignore for years.

To thrive in such situations, you’ll need some basic business savvy, entrepreneurialism and ability to make hard decisions about staff—and a thick skin and a solid professional network to help you through it.