When to Quit

The purpose of this newsletter is to give a Courageous CEO freedom. Quitting is not always bad. Quitting is not always the answer but it is one answer.

All leadership jobs have hard times. Martin Luther King had threatening phone calls, a stabbing, heckling by black nationalists, cross burning at home, bomb scare, fake indictments in Alabama, gunshots at home, bombing of home, and FBI surveillance. None of this convinced him to quit.? He was effective in leadership up to his death.

Would King have been wrong to accept an academic position and live long enough to mentor other leaders? Leaders have no easy answers to career questions. Here are 10 intel ideas to think about quitting without guilt --- even if you don’t quit.

1.??????? Job Finished? - Did you do what you came to do? You may quit when others hope you will stay.? The job may have changed, and you have finished what you came for. You see that the present version of the job is not fulfilling your aspirations. Others see your competence, but you know your passions. Don’t simply follow crowd desire as to when to quit.

2.?????? Still Have Grit? - Outsider directors need grit to both stay or quit. You climbed into leadership and irritated the nonprofit leadership club in your area by not being a leader of privilege. Some will rejoice on the day that you leave. I lived this experience. Filter out the jealousy of others and noise of complaints. What are critical questions? Do you still have the fighting spirit to face the challenges of your job and win?

3.?????? Are You an Outsider? - Outsider directors are more versatile. I’m in my fifth career. I was raised in a poor home and had insufficient guidance on career. My parents’ great gift to me was thirst to learn. So, quitting and changing careers was not soul destroying. I see this same versatility in many immigrants who may have advanced degrees in one nation that are not recognized in their final destination. Career change is disappointing but not psychologically impossible. Is your leadership job one of several paths you walked in life? It’s easier to quit.

4.????? Dreams Still to Claim? - Let’s dream about your current job – what do you hope to achieve? How long will it take? Are you on track? Most leadership jobs have difficult targets. There is nothing wrong with that.

Now make some intermediate goals. One of my jobs was to unite four groups who spoke four different languages and didn’t like each other. Typically, a successful job target starts with the hardest part. It was not a short-range target or an easy target to bring languages and cultures together. When problems erupted in the eleventh year, I tried solutions that did not work. Instead of the work getting easier, I was being damaged by complaints I could not solve. It was time to quit. Where are you in your job target, progress and effort?

5.?????? BATNA? - It’s the Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement. In other words, prepare now for plan B. What would you do if you quit today? What can provide a BATNA? Possibly you should take courses for an alternate job. Perhaps you need to build your professional network so that a friend can get you into a new agency. The point is that you are developing yourself to be more than this one job. You have a BATNA

6.?????? Do You Have Quitting Heroes? - Jimmy Carter is my quitting hero. He failed in his bid for a second term as President. What a soul crushing way for a decision on quitting. Grit was irrelevant. Carter was out.

What do you know about Carter today? Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center for Human Rights. He had or made a BATNA. Some argue that his postpresidency was actually his highest impact job. Other one-term presidents were George Walker Bush and Gerald Ford. What did they do post-presidency? You would have to look it up! ?No BATNA.

Find quitters who saw quitting as Failing Forward. Read their biographies.

7.?????? Are You With Your Roots? - Stay with your roots or leave. If you’re an outsider director, you knew a lot about the core client as you entered nonprofit work. The people you were helping could have been your brother, your mother, --- could have been you. As you get into leadership, it’s easy to lose contact with your base. Many outsider directors get to a place of nonprofit or governmental leadership and trade leadership for job security and the good life. It’s understandable. Despite all of that, don’t trade in your dreams. Leave if the job separates you from your roots.

8.?????? Past History? - What is your past record of quitting? Many people hold on to the wrong job. That can be necessary if you need the salary and the job market is tight. But a common reason for staying is that you would rather be miserable than face the unknown of a new career or job.

Think about the jobs you had in the past. If you left at the right time, then trust your feelings now. If you ended up unhappy, then possibly you need an executive coach for three months to lead you through a process to decide. Don’t wallow in misery because the future has some risk attached.

9.?????? Double or Nothing? - Are you doubling down on losing in your current job? Americans like to double down on losing. Americans are highly influenced by an individualistic, entrepreneurial ethos where risk and grit are admired. The western frontier is a cultural myth.

Ho Chi Minh helped the Americans win in World War 2. But the French losers were friends, so the Americans doubled down, brought the French colonizers back in, and millions were murdered before the USA lost. It’s the reason that there was no explosion of discontent from USA disasters in Afghanistan or Iraq. Americans double down and then ignore the mess. If you have factors in the current job that you can’t solve, ignore American myths and quit with honor.

10.??? Who am I? - A key reason that people don’t quit is that their job has become their identity. Why do large companies fail such as the United Methodist Church? There’s something about their identity that outsiders no longer want and to which church members cling as their identity. Let’s assume that you’re a program manager and it's a job that you love for a time. You would be thrilled to get a promotion to a larger program management position. In a market economy with many dislocations, that’s not likely. Is your job your identity? That answer determines a lot about your freedom.

I’m Ronald Tompkins, Managing Coach for TurnAround Nonprofit and Executive Coaching. More information is on my website at TAConsulting.live . Many leaders need team coaching to support them as they lead and change their nonprofit. If you watch this as a board member, ask your Executive Director to involve the Board and team in coaching. You can contact me for Team Coaching at 646 824 4647.

Thanks for joining me today and I’ll watch for you next week!

For Further study on quitting, I recommend ??Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away. Annie Duke, 2022.

? Copyright TurnAround Executive Coaching LLC 2024? [email protected] ? 646 824 4647