16 December 2021

Using Founder Sabbaticals as Organizational Reset

A sabbatical can be more than just a time for rest, reflection, and regeneration. As I’ve observed through engagement with hundreds of other founders in social entrepreneurship communities over the past decade, most founders end up doing one of three things: burning out and leaving by around the decade mark, adapting and evolving to set a healthy stage for their departure, or—in the worst case scenario, a symptom of founder’s syndrome—staying on while continuing patterns that don’t keep pace with organizational needs. As I’ve learned from my own experience, sabbaticals can have a catalytic role in serving as an organizational reset and time to allow founders and their teams to see what’s required for them to successfully adapt and evolve to a place where the founder role is sustainably replaceable. The founder sabbatical can spark evaluation of organizational systems, exploration of how power is used, and can show what organizational changes are required to achieve equity now and in the future. Read the full article here.