Tom Adams
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Hiring a new executive takes more than just a hiring process. Changing executives is a big deal for any organization. Tim Wolfred, a leader in developing the art and science of nonprofit executive search and transition, lays out a well-developed and proven process...
Too many organizations underperform because they fail to pay sufficient attention to leader transitions. As a result, the mission, those served, and the employees suffer. In my work with more than 300 organizations facing leader transitions, I’ve identified many factors that influence the outcome of a leader transition.
“Black Lives Matter. Race matters. We need each other. What is mine to do?” It’s a different fourth of July. No parades, no big gatherings for fireworks to celebrate America’s freedom. And perhaps most importantly a growing recognition that America is not free until...
“Black Lives Matter. Race matters. We need each other. What is mine to do?” Fear of saying the wrong thing or being seen as a “racist” or someone who doesn’t “get race” has limited me as I have faced my discomfort along this journey of deepening my understanding of...
Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, has a lot to teach us about navigating our lives through the coronavirus pandemic. The failed Wall Street stock analyst whose compulsion to drink took him to the edge of insanity and death developed a pragmatic...
More precisely, who is God for me? That is the question that has haunted me for many years. Well, perhaps haunt is a little strong. It is more like recurring dreams that come and go. Sometimes the dream is pleasant and fills me up. I am at a beach with people I love...
The intersection of the 85th anniversary of Dr. Bob Smith and Bill Wilson meeting on June 10, 1935 and our annual celebration of the Fourth of July offer all in recovery an opportunity to revisit our freedoms. The 85th birthday of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) and the...
Facing an executive transition is sobering and daunting for most board leaders, executives, and staffs. There are too many moving parts in a complex organization for the transition of the top leader to be simple. Boards that have not experienced the responsibility of...
"We need each other. Race matters. We need each other.” Since witnessing the gruesome death of George Floyd, I repeat these words to myself. I feel sad, angry, and sometimes hopeless. I ask myself what as a white man I am doing to fight against racism. My answers so...
At lunch at the Gerald May seminar, Compassion of the Mystics, I was at a table where 12-Step meetings and recovery were being discussed. Having been a student and beneficiary of 12-Step groups for over 30 years, my ears perked up. A lunch table friend was describing...
Tom Adams writes and speaks on topics vital to the intersection of our personal lives with our community and global lives. He has for decades been engaged in and written about nonprofit leadership and transitions, spirituality and spiritual growth, how we each contribute to a more just and equitable world and recovery from addictions and the Twelve Step recovery movement.