Step into leadership with confidence, clarity, and care.
Taking the helm of a nonprofit can feel like walking into chaos—tight budgets, worn-out teams, and a board expecting instant results.
The First 90 Days as a Nonprofit Leader is the trusted field manual for new Executive Directors and CEOs who want to lead with confidence, not confusion.

Drawing from over 30 years of hard-earned experience, Jeff Conroy guides you through the critical first months of leadership. You’ll learn how to:

• Build trust and credibility quickly.
• Read the culture before you try to change it.
• Strengthen your relationship with the board.
• Create early wins that build momentum.
• Set priorities that stick—and lead for the long game.

This isn’t theory. It’s real leadership, written by someone who’s been there.

Your first 90 days will define your leadership. Make them count.

WHEN A WORTHY CAUSE FINDS THEIR CHAMPION … THE WORK HAS JUST BEGUN.
Who can NPOs turn to for help?
For over 30 years, Jeff has devoted his life to nonprofits as an executive with the Boy Scouts of America, St. Vincent de Paul North Idaho, an the United Way of Kootenai County. Along the way he learned the power of small, impactful actions.

This is his guide to success.

YOU LEARN HOW TO:

• Work with a coach
• Increase your impact
• Find the perfect partner
• Seize the moment
• Grow the NPO to achieve maximum benefits for your causeame.

ARE YOU READY TO GET STARTED?
You’ll love this handy guide full of powerful lessons. It’s also easy to carry around with you so you’ll always have some inspiration at hand.

Leadership by Default is a plainspoken look at how culture really gets built inside organizations. Not through mission statements or values posters, but through the everyday decisions leaders make, especially the ones they delay or avoid.

I’ve seen good organizations drift without anyone intending for it to happen. Standards don’t collapse overnight. They soften a little at a time. A tough conversation gets postponed. An exception gets made for the sake of comfort. Silence fills the space where leadership should have shown up. Over time, people learn what really matters, and it’s rarely what leaders say they value.

This book is built around one simple truth. Culture follows leadership behavior. What leaders tolerate becomes normal. What they avoid becomes permission. What they don’t address quietly resets the standard.

I don’t spend time blaming employees or pointing fingers at generations. Most people are doing exactly what the system teaches them to do. When effort isn’t tied to outcomes, people stop stretching. When accountability is inconsistent, trust erodes. When leaders confuse kindness with clarity, performance suffers.

Each chapter looks at the everyday leadership habits that shape culture for better or worse. Avoiding tough conversations. Protecting the wrong kind of loyalty. Leaving people in the wrong roles too long. Treating all performance the same in the name of fairness. None of these choices feel big in the moment, but together they define the organization.

This isn’t a book about being harsh or rigid. It’s about being clear, fair, and consistent. It’s about raising standards without breaking trust, holding people accountable without damaging relationships, and stepping back into ownership before drift becomes decline.

Leadership by Default is written for leaders, executives, and boards who care deeply about their mission and their people, but know something isn’t working the way it should. It asks one hard question every leader eventually has to face.

What have your decisions taught your people about what’s acceptable here?

If the culture you have isn’t the culture you want, this book will help you see why and show you where leadership needs to show up next.