Here’s a trivia question: What’s the real reason Elvis Presley’s leg shakes when he performs?
On May 5, 2025, my partner, my CEO, died unexpectedly.
Who will fill his shoes? Everyone kept repeating, ” We have to have a face for the org. Who?”
It happened to me last year. Over the past eight months, I’ve found out I’m not the only one.
Okay, every case looks different, but plenty of nonprofit Executive Directors inherit the organizations we run without notice or preparation. All of a sudden, we’re in the deep end without a safety vest. What do we do?
For me, the first thing I did was figure out how to complete the planned projects for 2025. Can we raise enough money? Whom are we going to support, and why? Steve and I had barely started planning for 2025, which left me with big choices. I was nervous — but I also knew I was ready.
The Shaky Start: Facing Unexpected Leadership
All of my life, it seems, I’ve been preparing for this day. I didn’t know I was aiming for this particular place, but everything I’ve done was a step toward becoming the new face of Get Out the Vote PAC. Now that I’ve accepted the role, I need a story. I need a voice.
I’m operations. I like being in the background. Who’d be interested in anything I have to say? Turns out, if you spend a little time digging into yourself, you find you have a story — and a voice. Believe it or not, people want to hear mine.
As Executive Director of a PAC, I’m responsible for keeping funds coming in. I kept using the tried-and-true methods, but after about six months, the writing was on the wall: Lori, what you’re doing now won’t be enough to keep GOTV running past 2025. If I wanted to keep this show moving, I had to start networking, NOW! Plenty of people out there are ready to help. I have to find them.
What did that mean for me? I had some learning to do.
Off to school I went.
First things first: how do I grow my network? I had to join groups and start reaching out. Most people would look at where I started — 42 Geeks, Entreprenista League, LinkedIn — and wonder what the hell I was thinking. But these were the people put in front of me. Who was I to say they weren’t the right ones? Even so, I wondered how any of it would get me where I needed to be.
I just kept putting one foot in front of the other until one day I realized I’d arrived. People relate to the story I share, and they want to help me keep the work going. It turns out these new connections all know someone who knows someone. As my network grows, I know the donors who can carry forward what Steve and I set out to do are just one conversation away.
Now I have a voice, I have a story worth telling, and I’m building the network that wants to hear it. What’s next?
Breaking Through Challenges in Nonprofit Leadership
When Steve left, I had to examine where this organization could go. His vision was only ever meant to last a few years. But what’s happening in our government today will have repercussions for years to come. To me, that means GOTV PAC has to be around much longer and become a bigger part of the fight to correct the degradation of our democracy. That’s not a fight I can lead alone. It means GOTV working side by side with other organizations toward one goal: a Congress with the power and the will to hold this administration accountable for how it has mistreated and misrepresented the very people it’s supposed to serve. Leading us into that fight means being tougher in ways that are foreign to me. I have to trust myself to learn as I go, and surround myself with people fighting for the same reasons.
I didn’t just inherit Steve’s dream. I inherited his staff. At first, I thought: how wonderful — these people know and understand his vision, and they’ll help me keep it alive. For six to eight months, it seemed like everyone was on board. On the surface, we were all fighting for the same results.
Little by little, cracks started emerging, and I felt like I was on my own within this team. I trusted them. I asked for their input and wanted to hear it. I let my insecurity and inexperience in government and politics overshadow what my gut was telling me — everyone on my team has tons of political experience, I told myself; they must know what they’re talking about. What I didn’t want to see, and almost didn’t let myself see, was that some of them had their own agenda and had been working to wear me down into their way of thinking.
Thank goodness, I also had dedicated people on my side who helped me see what was happening. Then came the scary part: if my team wasn’t supporting the organization’s goals and wouldn’t change, they had to go. But who would do the work? Did I know enough to keep things moving? How would I get us back on track?
One thing I knew with certainty: I had to make room for the new by letting go of the old. The older team voices wanted to keep GOTV doing what it had always done, so they could stay secure in their jobs. The newer voices on the team saw an opportunity to push the PAC toward a more progressive, riskier slate of endorsements. Both sides framed their agenda as keeping Steve’s vision alive. With help from outside advisors, I finally saw what was happening right in front of me.
Leadership Transition: Finding Confidence and Taking Tough Steps
I’d let employees go before, but this felt different. This time, it felt like risking a major disruption—alienating collaborators, vendors, consultants, and entire skill sets gone in one move. I didn’t know how people would react to key team members suddenly being gone, or whether GOTV could keep up. So, I let my nerves keep me from the dirty work of removing them from the team, even as I grew more frustrated by their disrespect. How many times has your own staff flatly told you “no” and reprimanded you for asking them to fix something you needed? That’s what happened — and it was the final straw that broke this camel’s back.
Letting go wasn’t pleasant, but it was a relief. No more snide remarks, no more being worn down. I could feel my strength returning, the positive energy flowing back in. Best of all, the PAC is back on track, and I love getting up every day to face new challenges.
“The first time that I ever appeared on stage it scared me to death. I really didn’t know what the yellin’ was about. I didn’t realize that my body was moving.” – Elvis Presley
Like Elvis, I’m glad I didn’t walk away because of my fear and nervousness — I let that energy lead me to a confident Elvis
Presley performance.
Comments are closed