Why I walked away from the C-suite

People told me I was crazy to "go backwards" in my career

I walked away from the C-suite two nearly two years ago.

It was one of those decisions that everyone in my network had an opinion on or questions about.

• What are you doing?

• Are you crazy? You’re a company PRESIDENT — why would you take a role below that at this point in your career?

• How will you handle not being the “top dog” in the organization?

• Every interview you have after this will focus on how your career took a step back. What are you going to say to that?

When I decided to leave the C-suite and move in a different direction I had given that company nearly three years of my life. In that time we’d crossed some major milestones.

We’d doubled the company’s revenue.

We’d nearly doubled the size of the team, restructured our service model, added a dozen+ new client logos, and transitioned the company from a print production sales firm to a strategic marketing agency.

In nearly three years we’d accomplished a lot more than I expected to achieve in that time.

But I knew that I wasn’t the right person for a long-time company leader role in that organization.

My role, when you boil it down, was to be a catalyst for change for the company. To get the business unstuck from where it had been for the last 5-10 years.

I knew I wouldn’t do well as a maintenance leader in this organization. They needed someone who could carry them into the next phase of normalizing and managing the business at hand.

Not catalyzing change and growth. We’d crossed that bridge already.

I still continued to get the “why would you go backwards” questions from many close friends, industry colleagues, and even a few of my close mentors.

But I think about that decision like driving. Have you ever been driving along a road looking for your next turn, only to miss it because you were looking somewhere else when you came to it?

If you’re like me, you might pump the brakes, put your car in reverse and back up just a little so that you can take the turn you intended and ultimately arrive at your intended goal.

My decision to leave the C-suite was similar.

I chose to leave that role and take what I’d call an “artificial” step back in my career so that I could chase an opportunity to get to an ultimate destination that I would have missed had I kept going on that journey in my C-suite role.

Was I scared in making this change?

Sure I was.

Walking away from a “sure” thing in a C-suite role is a huge decision. One that a lot of people rightly said was CRAZY.

• Would I be able to do what I was planning and be successful?

• Is this a stupid decision?

• Was my ego wounded and is that really why I’m making this decision?

• What if I fail?

• Could my family survive if this next idea doesn’t pan out?

• Would I let my wife and daughters down if this doesn’t work?

• What about the team I’ve built – would they still respect me if I leave?

• Will I look like a failure if I go now instead of spending another 3-5 years in this role?

All of those thoughts went through my head. I had several nights where I didn’t sleep at all. Where I couldn’t eat (that might not have been a bad thing for a guy like me). Though I probably didn’t show it much, I was really nervous when I made this jump.

This decision has already allowed me to do some great things.

In the last two years, we’ve:

• Built a great new agency model that is addressing a major gap in the industry

• Brought together an amazing team of people who are fully aligned around our vision to create a better way for ministries and other nonprofits to raise funds and engage with their supporter communities

• Grown this new business into something substantial and impactful that is doing fantastic work for some really important causes

• Found a company of like-minded people who are all aligned around a common mission and vision

• Put in place the building blocks to continue to grow and diversify a company that can continue to serve more and different causes that will impact the world for decades to come

Sometimes you have to choose to take a step back in the short-term so that you can eventually take a leap forward.