Impactful Leaders Podcast | In Interim Leadership, "It's Not About Me": Jeff Shilling

Interim leadership is a career path many executives are taking, including those who have served as senior administrators in higher education. Jeff Shilling thought he would transition into full-time consulting work after he transitioned out of a full time role in advancement but instead found an opportunity as an interim leader through WittKieffer. He then found that he enjoyed a new way to use his expertise to help organizations through leadership transitions. A good interim leader needs a few simple qualities, Shilling says:

Being comfortable in your own skin, so you’re not intimidated by a challenging new interim role;

Humility and the maturity to know “It’s not about me” in an interim role;

Curiosity and being able to say, “Let me know how I can be helpful.”

In this conversation with Lydia Ostermeier-Haynes, a Principal with WittKieffer’s Interim Leadership solution, Shilling looks back on his decision to get into interim work and how it has led him down paths he couldn’t have imagined as a next fulfilling step in his career. He describes how he succeeded as an interim leader at a recent key assignment, and what others can learn from his experiences.