Exiting the C-Suite? Do It With Care, Integrity & Impact
Recently, Dr. Brandy Nelson, one of our writers at The Nelson Pages had a chance to spend time on the THRIVE Life Coaching podcast with Dr. Alison Harris Welcher. During the podcast, Brandy spent time talking with Alison about leadership transitions — exploring ideas around knowing when to leave a role, measuring purpose and performance in a role, and exiting with integrity and intentionality. You can find the full episode here.
In this issue, The Nelson Pages is digging deeper, specifically, the phenomenon of leadership transitions at the chief executive level–the c-suite.
Why is it so challenging to leave a role? How do you exit out of your role the way you want to, ensuring you maintain integrity, care, and sustainable impact?
You have probably spent quite a bit of time living, learning, and growing in your leadership practices, but you likely have spent little time thinking about leaving a role. In most organizations, leadership is framed in terms of entry and performance: How will you succeed in this role? What results will you deliver? How will you grow the team? It is rare to actually talk about what happens when the work is done—when the signals point toward transition rather than tenure.
Too often, leaving a role is treated as a failure or abandonment by the leader, when in reality, it is part of the natural cycle of leadership. In fact, many leaders ignore the signals that a transition is needed. As a result, the leader may experience burnout, resentment, and/or a dysfunctional exit. Listening to the signals of transitioning - and taking action to transition - can create clarity, continuity, and perhaps even legacy.
The Challenge of Knowing When to Leave
One of the most significant challenges in leadership is knowing when it’s time to step away. Many leaders are socialized to stay longer than necessary, believing endurance proves resilience and commitment. Their leadership lens becomes distorted, and they drive towards a “performance-at-all-costs” mentality, resulting in a leader clinging to a role that no longer aligns with their values. These leaders dismiss the physical, emotional, and spiritual signs that their season in a role has ended. Once they do leave, their teams inherit an abrupt transition, and the organization misses out on an opportunity to engage in a transformational succession.
Why the Challenge Persists
Two forces sustain this behavior in leaders. First, organizational cultures often equate endurance with strength. Leaders feel guilty stepping away, fearing they will let people down. When confronted with the signs, most leaders double down. They commit to staying another year. They add more projects to prove their capacity. They wait until the “perfect” next opportunity appears.
Second, leadership roles themselves are structured to seduce: the number of direct reports, the projects on your plate, the approvals only you can grant. These measures of importance reinforce staying, even when leaving would serve both the individual and the organization better.
Recognizing the Right Time to Leave
Organizations should plan for leadership transitions the same way they plan for performance. As a leader, there are three key actions you should consider immediately, even if you do NOT plan to leave your role: constant succession planning, cycles of reflection, and periodic accountability check-ins.
Our first step is constant succession planning, beginning on day one—or today. Identify high quality talent and strategically build their capacity by giving these prospects access to processes, people, and projects. Teaching these individuals important organizational strategy concepts, introducing them to key people (funders, other c-suite executives, board members) and offering them opportunities to participate in important projects and decisions prepares them for a possible future in your role. One of the jobs of a leader and manager is to create more amazing leaders and managers.
Our second step in figuring out if it is a good time to leave is to engage in reflection—stop, look, and listen for signs that a transition might be needed. In any leadership role, there are natural cycles of deep, intense work and opportunities for reflection. We suggest you start by asking yourself questions like: Do I like who I am in this role? Do I like what I do in this role? What more can I do in this role? Is there other work I want to pursue?
Our third–and highly recommended–step is an ongoing opportunity to share your reflections with trusted peers and others. These periodic accountability check-ins with your “kitchen cabinet” (a collection of close colleagues that will tell you the truth even when you don’t want to hear it) will give you an opportunity to engage in deeper conversations and gather feedback. Your “kitchen cabinet” will help you unpack your thinking; identify any blind spots; and provide support, encouragement, tough love, and hopefully, joy.
You Decided to Leave, Now What?
Once you have made the choice, a few things to keep in mind:
Give meaningful notice: Two weeks is insufficient. Two to three months allows for smoother continuity.
Get ready for the next step: Your next step does not have to be clear, but make sure you set yourself and your family up financially, spiritually, and physically for what comes next—even if the “what’s next” is still unfolding.
Leave: When you go, GO. Support the organization in the ways you would like, but do not interfere or interrogate the decisions of the newest leader. Feel free to talk to staff after you are gone, but do not talk to the staff about the work you just exited. Model stewardship: the understanding that leadership is not ownership but caretaking. The role, the resources, the team—these belong to the community, not to any one leader (e.g., not you).
Exiting with purpose ensures that systems, people, and legacies are strengthened rather than weakened by transition.
Four steps to leaving a role well:
Listen to the Signals – Pay attention to physical, emotional, and spiritual cues that it’s time to move on.
Start Succession Early – Build capacity in others constantly so your departure is not disruptive.
Give Time, Not Just Notice – Offer months, not weeks, to prepare your team and organization for continuity. This also gives you time to prepare for your next steps.
Exit with Integrity – Stay available for personal connection, but refrain from interfering in the work you’ve left.
Leaders have the opportunity—and responsibility—to reframe leaving not as failure but as fulfillment. If done well, transitioning out of a leadership role is an act of integrity, a model of stewardship, and a gift to the organizations and communities we serve. Leadership is not just about how we enter or what we achieve while we are there. It is also about how we leave and what we make possible after we’re gone.
In a previous issue we leveraged poetry and our Community LOVED IT! We are back with another piece of poetry for you. As always, this section is about unlocking/disrupting your thinking.. As you read, think about the ways in which your current models of leadership transitions are serving (or not serving) you well!
Am I done?
Signals whisper, then call—
a season closing,
a spirit shifting.
It is the sky,
the leaves, the ground–calling,
right?
I measure my strength by staying,
yet true courage,
lies in leaving.
Succession begins on day one,
reflections carve the path,
trusted voices steady the steps.
Give time, not haste;
exit with integrity,
hands open, not clenched.
When I go with purpose,
I gift continuity,
I seed legacy.
Case Study: Maggie Dalton and the Future of Legacy Threads
This case study is written from the voice of CEO Margaret “Maggie” Dalton. This fictional company and it’s CEO offers us the opportunity to sit with Maggie as a member of her “kitchen cabinet” and provide candor and guidance to her. She is hearing signals that it might be time to transition.
I have led Legacy Threads for over 26 years. My father founded the company in 1974 with nothing more than a few sewing machines and a vision to create quality basics rooted in community and sustainability. Over time, Legacy Threads has become more than a business—it’s become our family’s identity, my life’s work, and a source of stability for hundreds of employees and partners.
Lately, though, I feel the weight. At 68, I am tired in ways I used to push past. My body tells me to slow down, but my mind keeps saying, not yet. For years, I’ve believed that endurance equals strength. I’ve told myself that leaders don’t quit when they’re weary—they hold on until the job is done.
And yet, I wonder: when is the job ever “done”?
In this company, the CEO role has become a symbol of authority. People see me as the brand itself. I hear employees say, “If Maggie leaves, what will happen to us?” That frightens me. Have I built something so dependent on me that it cannot thrive without me?
I have not formally prepared a successor. Part of me worried that naming one would signal weakness. Another part wasn’t ready to picture life beyond this office. But ignoring succession planning has consequences. If I left suddenly, would my team be ready? Would the board scramble? Would the community lose trust in us?
In recent meetings, the board has floated ideas for transition. Their instinct is to move quickly: a two-week notice, hand the reins to a new CEO, and keep operations steady. I know that approach is common in many companies, but at Legacy Threads, I fear it would backfire. Our culture values relationships and continuity. Staff would feel blindsided. Suppliers and community partners might panic.
Still, staying too long could smother the next leader before they begin.
I feel pulled in two directions:
Stay on, to mentor a successor and preserve stability, risking that I overshadow the new leader.
Step away quickly, giving them room to lead but risking confusion, burnout, and mistrust.
The question that keeps me up at night is simple: How do I leave in a way that honors both Legacy Threads and myself?
Case Study Questions:
What signals should Maggie pay attention to in deciding whether it is time to leave?
How might she balance personal readiness with organizational needs?
What succession planning steps could she still put in place, even at this late stage?
How might her identity as the “face” of the company complicate transition planning?
What does it mean for Maggie to “leave well” in this context?
That’s it for us this month! See you next month!!!
