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In this article we investigated the degree to which nonprofit organizations have developed succession plans and to what degree there is room at the top for insiders to succeed incumbents. Twelve nonprofit community‐based organizations (CBOs) within a major urban center in the northeastern portion of the USA served as our sample. CEOs responded to a questionnaire and were interviewed to collect personal and organizational data. Findings included that most of the organizations did not have succession plans; boards of directors, not incumbent CEOs, appointed successors, except in the case of founders; and despite the fact that insiders are provided with leadership training, they are often not promoted to the position of CEO. Implication for leadership and organization development and recommendations for future research are made.

The aim of this paper is to determine the degree to which a leader of a nonprofit organization changed over time after a near death experience.

This follow‐up case study uses interviews with a leader and other key actors in a nonprofit organization as well as participant and non‐participant observation over a ten‐year period.

The paper finds that while a leader may change behavior after a near death experience that change is not fully sustained over time.

This paper offers leaders who face similar challenges as a result of a near death experience with recommendations for making personal and organizational changes.

This paper will be of value to leaders who have had near death experiences and return to the workplace.

This study focused on the issue of CEO tenure in three non‐profit community‐based organizations – each with an at least 25‐year long CEO tenure – located in two US northeastern urban centers. Using a questionnaire and a semi‐structured interview, we investigated reasons for the CEOs’ extraordinarily long tenures in office: the CEOs themselves, their organizations, and the environments in which they operated. The following were among the data findings re the CEOs: they were founders of their organization; were power brokers within the political community; managed their staff and boards of directors; possessed a vision and continued to initiate new projects; exhibited a passion for work; and had a succession plan. Some issues for future research are presented.

This article aims to provide founders, executive directors, and board members with a case study of a nonprofit executive director who, as a result of his refusal to “let go” of the organization he founded, created serious problems for his successor and role confusion for staff and organizational stakeholders.

This article uses the case study method to illustrate a problem founders of nonprofit organizations can create, when they take an active role within the organization after retirement.

Despite all the good outcomes and accomplishments attributed to founders, this article argues that founders can create irreparable harm to organizations when they remain active in the organization following the appointment of a successor. Despite the difficulty and personal and psychological connection to the organization, founders should allow the organization to develop and grow under the direction of the successor.

Founders, executive directors, and board members can all learn from this case by developing and implementing appropriate executive succession strategies.

This article informs founders of nonprofits about the potential harm they can create for the organization and its stakeholders by continuing to govern after retirement.

This paper examines the value orientations of executives and their linkages to leadership behaviors. The 181 executives in this study were randomly selected from the top 500 Australian companies. Value orientations of Australian executives compared with their Russian, Japanese, and Chinese counterparts reveal as many similarities as there are differences. In general, transformational leadership styles were most closely related to personal values orientations. The implications of the findings are discussed, and practical suggestions for leadership development and research are proposed.

The aim of this article was to emphasize that board member failure to develop a succession plan places the organization in a precarious status quo mode, and thereby to help educate executive directors and board members about the need for an executive succession plan.

Case study methods were used to collect data presented in the case narrative.

The results of the authors' case study suggest that organizations that do not plan for executive succession events jeopardize their ability to pursue new opportunities.

Generalizability of a single case study may be a research concern despite its in‐depth investigation, analysis, and findings.

Executive directors and board members must recognize the importance of an executive succession plan to ensure smooth transition from one executive to another.

In these complex times it is a strategic imperative that organizations are ready to address issues of uncertainty. An executive succession plan can help ensure organizational responses to changing internal and external environmental conditions.

Describes a study of 104 CEOs in Australia′s top 500 companies. Identifies their reasons for success in times of economic downturn. These reasons and attributes contained both “hard” and “soft” management skills, such as strategic management and interpersonal relationships respectively. Compares major management challenges facing these executives with findings in the USA. These challenges included global competition, personnel matters, and continuous change. Ends with strategies for business success based on the findings, with the emphasis on international competitiveness, workplace rationalizations, and leadership paramount.

Explores the nature of transformational and transactional leadership among business executives. Comments reveal that most executives believe there are weaknesses as well as strengths with both leadership constructs in practice. Overall, major leadership strengths are in the role modelling, coaching, and consideration behaviors of executives. Major weaknesses are in failure to motivate and challenge workers beyond the expected outcomes. Other facets of each of the four transformational and two transactional leadership behaviors are examined in this article. Lists leadership strategies and approaches for achieving positive results and implications for future research are also provided.

The purpose of this paper is to use Motivating Language Theory (MLT) as a framework in determining leader use of different language styles during times of dynamic change.

This exploratory study of executive members of the Australian Institute of Management examined how MLT may provide a mechanism for analyzing what leaders say in the context of a work setting. Written transcripts of interview data were analyzed to determine leaders’ use of three language styles: meaning-making (locutionary), direction giving (perlocutionary), and empathetic (illocutionary) language. The software program NVivo was used to help aggregate themes emerging from written and interview data into discrete modules to enable more robust and comprehensive analysis of the data.

A range of issues pertinent to the way executives lead and manage their businesses, both in private and not-for-profit organizations, was identified in this study. Direction giving language was most prominent in management activities and leadership that was strategic or people related, followed by meaning-making and empathetic language. The findings suggest that business leaders could develop a repertoire of language approaches in order to achieve organizational outcomes.

More research of the language of leadership and its implications for organizational outcomes is warranted. For instance, the strategic integration of motivating language with a compatible set of leader behaviors, organizational objectives, and cultures may reveal mechanisms as yet unknown for achieving outcomes. Research is needed to determine the content and construct of these behaviors, objectives, and cultures. Some questions also remain regarding the appropriateness of using the Motivating Language Scale to examine the types of language used by managers and leaders in the work place. The authors recommend further application of MLT through the Motivating Language Scale in order to help clarify these queries.

This paper used MLT as a framework for identifying leader use of different language styles during times of dynamic change. MLT has been used to identify the speech patterns of leaders during verbal communication exchanges with staff and work colleagues, but this study is the first example of the use of MLT when examining leader responses to interviews and in their written responses to survey questions.

Executive coaching is gaining in popularity as a management developmental activity which facilitates organisational change for sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships among coachee feedback receptivity, pre‐training motivation, learning goal orientation, developmental self‐efficacy, self‐reported job performance improvement, self‐awareness, task performance and affective commitment in terms of executive coaching effectiveness as a form of management development.

A non‐randomised controlled trial research design was conducted to examine the hypothesized relationships among coachee characteristics and executive coaching effectiveness, as reflected in greater levels of individual outcomes in corporate Israel.

A significant interaction between learning goal orientation and pre‐training motivation on improvement in job self‐reported performance was found. Additionally, a negative relationship was found between learning goal orientation and improvement in self‐reported job performance among coachees with low levels of pre‐training motivation. Finally, self‐efficacy demonstrates a positive relationship with job performance improvement.

This research provides greater insights about the type of individual outcomes executive coaching should achieve, and under which conditions coaching is likely to be more beneficial for participants. This research has value for designing and implementing coaching programmes to drive sustainable development and innovation.