Giving Compass' Take:

• Fred Smith discusses the challenges of changing sectors and why many for-profit employees struggle to succeed in non-profits. 

• Does your organization hire from other sectors? How can you best leverage the experience of employees from other sectors and minimize the challenges? 

• Find out how for-profit employees can stay in their area of expertise and make an impact through pro bono work. 

One of the most pronounced trends in the non-profit world in the last ten years has been the number of men and women in business careers making a transition to the non-profit world.

For many who had spent a good part of their lives and careers intensely focused on financial returns, advancement, awards, and promotions, the world of non-profits appeared to be the best place to make a difference. Having accumulated enough to make the move possible or having made the decision to leave the work they no longer enjoyed, they looked to non-profits as the place to find more meaning and to change lives.

While most assumed there would be some differences in the way those two worlds operated, I think many discovered they had no preparation for how different they are. Making a lateral move from business to non-profit leadership was more of a shock than they knew it would be and it has taken them years to make the adjustment.

Being on a board that meets periodically to review finances and staff decisions is not preparation for leadership. Having a general desire to do something that changes lives and makes a difference is, in the end, naïve and fizzles out quickly. Scores of well-intentioned and talented people have not made the adjustment and chosen to go back into business or professional life and be satisfied with board roles, starting social enterprises or spending more time on philanthropy. The two worlds have unique rules, incentives, values, and assumptions as well as different realities.  A lateral transition is far more difficult than it appears. Crossing the line can be dangerous to both.

Read the full article about changing sectors by Fred Smith at The Gathering.