D&D Satellite: Do we need to talk about the future of Executive Directors?

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An invitation from Emily Carewe, Executive Director and Co-CEO of Theatre 503 and Ellie Claughton, Executive Director of Improbable

Not a week goes by without hearing of another Executive Director stepping down, burning out, or quietly wondering “how much longer can I do this?” – could we be on the brink of crisis for Executive leadership?

How did we get here? It's not complicated: too much is expected from too few, for too long. Executive Directors are strong, capable, passionate humans — or at least, we were when we took the job. But more and more we are seeing this role, once vital and visionary, is now being crushed under the weight of increasingly impossible expectations, in an increasingly impossible environment. If we’re not careful, we’ll lose the Executive Director altogether — not because it failed, but because we didn’t fight for it.

This job is often invisible and endlessly demanding. It's holding the centre while everything moves. It’s strategy and spreadsheets, team therapy and late-night emails. It’s being the buffer and the backbone. The fixer. The absorber. The answerer-of-everything. Often perceived as the bad guy that has to say no. The enemy to creativity, when so often creativity is at the heart of the role.

While others get the spotlight, we are expected to carry the load — gracefully, endlessly, quietly.

And many of us are not okay.And we’re not alone in that.

If you’re feeling some version of this — frustration, fatigue, fierce hope — and you want to do something about it, this is your invitation.

Let’s gather.Let’s talk honestly.Let’s get strategic.Let’s do what Executive Directors do best: sort it out.