We all know what it takes to reset a device: You press and hold, knowing you’ll lose some settings, erase familiar shortcuts, and probably need to reinstall a few apps. But you also know it's the only way to clear the bugs, break old loops, and make way for something that actually works.

So why do boards resist hitting reset during leadership transitions?

When a long-tenured executive director, founder-CEO, or senior clergy steps down, especially after years or decades at the helm, the organization is not just replacing a person — they’re breaking a pattern. And patterns, especially deep-seated ones, don’t dissolve neatly with a farewell brunch and a plaque. They linger. They define culture. They shape identity. The gravitational pull of a founder — through institutional memory, staff allegiance, and board deference — doesn’t disappear overnight.

That’s why the role of an interim leader is so often misunderstood. Boards imagine this person as a bridge. A placeholder. A safe pair of hands. But if the interim looks, leads, or behaves anything like the outgoing leader — if they simply echo the cadence and comfort of the past — they do more harm than good. They anchor the organization in inertia, even if unintentionally.

What’s actually needed is something far more radical: a reset leader.

A reset CEO or executive director is not reckless or temporary out of incompetence. They are intentional. Tactical. Short-term by design. Their purpose isn’t to continue the legacy — it’s to disrupt it. Not to gently hold the culture, but to interrogate it. They don’t operate from a place of loyalty to how things have been, but instead from a mandate to unstick what’s no longer serving the organization.

The reset leader clears the emotional and operational residue left by a long-term predecessor. They expose cracks that have been painted over. They make the tough personnel decisions a founder avoided. They challenge sacred cows. They speak out loud the questions that no one had permission to ask: Are we still structured for our mission? Are our programs responsive to the world as it is — not as it was when we launched? Do we actually need the same kind of leader next?

Without this step, the organization isn’t ready for what’s next. It’s still tethered to what was.

And here’s the truth: When a board skips the reset phase, they don’t eliminate the interim — they just assign that burden to the incoming “permanent” hire. That new CEO or executive director walks into a culture still steeped in nostalgia, staff still loyal to someone else, and a board not yet fluent in its own evolving identity. The new leader’s chances of surviving beyond 12-18 months are slim. We’ve seen it time and again. And when they leave, the board tells itself a story about poor fit or bad timing, without ever confronting the reality: The organization skipped a necessary chapter.

This doesn’t mean every founder transition needs a scorched-earth approach. But it does mean boards must get real about what kind of leadership the moment demands. The interim is not a softer version of the future; they are a different species entirely. They’re not there to gently continue the narrative — they’re there to end one story and prepare the ground for another.

The reset CEO knows they won’t be beloved. That’s not their job. Their job is to pull back the curtain, to ask uncomfortable questions, to realign structure with strategy, and to name the elephants in the boardroom. And when they’ve done that, they step aside. No resentment. No legacy. Just clarity.

The best transitions aren’t seamless. They’re honest. They create space to grieve the past and then confront the future with fresh eyes. And sometimes, the only way to make space is to press reset.