Yesterday was a good day. It’s been a good week.
It’s the start of my farewell tour, the semi-tongue-in-cheek way I’m talking about the weeks before my semi-retirement in April.
It began with some free 1:1 slots for people who subscribed to my newsletter over the years. Then the first session of our last e-learning programme. Quite a few of the group still have a cherished original copy of the Lasting Difference toolkit, which is very sweet.
- A drug and alcohol charity told me about using it to guide trustee development and decision-making since 2016.
- A London-based funder drafted their new strategy using Shine a Light.
- A carers centre casually said, ‘We’ve got sustainable leadership here’, like that was a thing. It is certainly a thing there, weaving Lasting Leadership into how they recruit, manage and develop their staff and volunteers.
This is all beautiful.
I love that all these resources are free and shareable and that people make such good use of them. I only sometimes get to hear about it, like the example above, but that’s okay. They’re a gift.
It also shows me that, having taken the Lasting Difference as far as I can, it’s okay to step back. I’ve achieved more than I ever set out to when I started the company in 2013 and published the first toolkit in 2016.
Although it still sometimes feels sudden, I’ve been working towards this exit strategy since 2022, when we committed to:
- Using our precious time on this earth well.
- Doing our most expressive, impactful work by doing the things no-one asked us to.
- Reducing demand for our services by developing others’ capacity.
If my goal was ever for the sector to be more sustainable, it would be far from over. It’s a tougher environment now than in post-crash 2013 austerity. However, a sure sign that it’s time for me to step back is that I’m increasingly the fatigued person in a room full of people with such energy and optimism it’s like the last five (or 10) years haven’t happened. That’s brilliant, because that is what has always made – and will always make – the charity world so special.
People will keep organising, campaigning, working, supporting and believing because – what’s the alternative?
My goal has been to use the things I was learning from the sector and from my studies to help others to find their way through their deepest challenges. Those are universal and ever-present – it’s not just you.
This week has affirmed that the learning I’ve gathered and shared has reached people in all sorts of organisations, all over the world. People say my resources make them feel less alone within all the complexity. More understood.
I hope they (you) will continue to use and share them for as long as they are needed.
That seems a pretty good stepping off point for me.
As for what comes next, I’m not sure. I’ll spend less time working, delivering just a small number of contracts this year. But I can’t see myself anywhere else than the voluntary sector. I know it’s too soon to retire altogether. Not many people do these days anyway. And ‘semi’ is still something.