Article Executive Leadership 1 min read
Strategies for Negotiating Your CEO Contract
When you get an opportunity to step into the lead role at an association, negotiating a CEO contract has many moving pieces—from positioning yourself to get the best offer to finalizing the optimal contract language. All of it requires confidence and a bit of personal reflection.
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While a long career teaches much about the process of securing a new job, when association professionals move into the CEO role, it’s a whole new ballgame that involves signing a contract. That’s why aspiring CEOs, or CEOs moving to a new organization, need to understand key contract provisions and adopt a negotiation mindset.
Pamela J. Green, an executive coach and speaker, says that contract negotiations begin, in a way, in the interview phase. “You want to make sure you exude confidence, so they can see the value, the dollar value of your brand,” Green says. “All those things can make or break that negotiation process.”
Jeffrey Tenenbaum, managing partner at Tenenbaum Law Group, who has negotiated many association CEO contracts, says the process has some common elements but varies based on each candidate. “Contract negotiations for a first-time CEO are going to look very different from a CEO veteran going into their fourth CEO job,” Tenenbaum says. “There is no one size fits all.”
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