By Rana Tarkenton
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August 3, 2026
I recently spoke with a nonprofit leader navigating a difficult transition. For years, their organization had been recognized for its positive impact in the community. But when the longtime CEO departed, things began to get shaky. The reason? Much of the organization's influence, trust, and partnerships were tied to the CEO rather than embedded throughout the institution. The conversation stayed with me because I've spent my entire career in relationship-centered work. I believe deeply in the power of trust, partnership, and human connection. Some of the most meaningful progress I've seen in education and workforce development has happened because people chose to collaborate across organizations, sectors, and perspectives. Relationships matter. But relationships are not a strategy. And they are definitely not infrastructure. Healthy organizations need more than a CEO with strong relationships; they need connective tissue up and down the org chart. As I reflected on that conversation, I found myself asking a different question: If I stepped away tomorrow, would the work continue to thrive? I believe the answer is increasingly yes. Not because I'm unimportant, but because one of my most important responsibilities as a leader is to build an organization that is stronger than any one person's leadership, including my own. Leadership alone isn't enough. It takes people, systems, and shared ownership to turn relationships into lasting organizational strength. I say the same about The Attainment Network's role as a leader in the communities we serve. Our goal isn't to become indispensable. It's to help communities build the capacity, partnerships, and local infrastructure that allow the work to continue and grow long after our role has evolved. That same philosophy shapes how I think about leadership within our own organization. I’ve become increasingly intentional about stepping out of the middle. The more I’ve stepped out of the middle, the more I’ve watched our organization grow stronger. That has meant inviting team members into relationships and opportunities that I once managed myself and creating opportunities for them to lead. Today, the team leads the work, and I don’t need to be in the room all of the time. Our partnership leads have become trusted conveners in the communities they serve. Team members lead relationships with local and state partners — school districts, higher ed, state agencies, and others. They have become recognized experts in areas like data and evaluation, policy, apprenticeships, and emerging industries. Increasingly, our partners know exactly who to call, and it often isn’t me. None of that happened by accident. It happened because we made a conscious decision to forge relationships that belong to the organization, not to the CEO. One experience reinforced that lesson for me in a very personal way. Last year, I asked our policy lead, Michelle Camacho Liu, to represent The Attainment Network in the state's work to align the Colorado Department of Higher Education and the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. She became our primary voice in those conversations, and she was invited to serve on the Governor's Transition Advisory Committee for that work. I was excited for her. At the same time, I had a fleeting moment of wondering what it meant that I wasn't invited. But then I caught myself and realized that the invitation wasn't evidence that I had become less valuable. It was evidence that our approach was working. She was invited to serve on the committee because she had become a trusted leader. Over months of thoughtful engagement, she built relationships, contributed meaningful expertise, and earned the confidence of the people at the table. As a CEO, I couldn't have asked for a better outcome. Of course, relationships are only part of the equation. Sustainable organizations also invest in the less visible work that creates resilience. We’ve strengthened our partnership model, refined governance and decision-making processes, invested in systems that support collaboration, knowledge sharing, and project management. None of those things make headlines, but together they create an organization that is more durable, more consistent, and less dependent on any one person. I've also learned that building distributed leadership requires letting go of the instinct to be at the center of everything. That's not always easy. Leaders often become leaders because they enjoy solving problems, building relationships, and creating momentum. Stepping back can feel uncomfortable at first. But I've discovered something surprising: there is tremendous satisfaction in watching your team become the people others call first. Their success isn't separate from yours. It is your success. I was reminded of this recently during a cross-sector convening in the San Luis Valley to begin building pathways to in-demand, high-paying careers in construction . We had prepared an agenda and talking points, expecting to facilitate much of the discussion. Instead, local employers, educators, workforce leaders, and community partners quickly took ownership. The conversation became theirs. Ideas emerged, commitments were made, and the momentum belonged to the people in the room rather than to us. As I looked around, I realized that was exactly the point. The strongest organizations and the strongest partnerships don't depend on one person to keep the work moving. They create the conditions for others to lead. Relationships will always matter. They are how trust begins. But lasting impact happens when that trust becomes shared leadership, strong systems, and local ownership. To me, that's what sustainable leadership looks like. It's not about making yourself indispensable. It's about building something that continues to grow because the relationships, the knowledge, and the leadership belong to the organization and the communities it serves.
