I received notice from the Secretary’s Office that the NRA Executive Committee will be having a meeting on Wednesday to discuss succession planning. Seeing that term in an official NRA communication feels like vindication of a sorts.

Six years ago this month, the NRA held its Annual Meeting and Meeting of the Members in Tucson, Arizona. It was a small meeting held during the Covid-19 pandemic. Probably the only reason they even held the meeting was that Article III, Sec. 8(a) required an Annual Meeting of Members.

I presented a resolution at that meeting concerning succession planning. It requested the Board of Directors to create a formal succession plan for the Executive VP and the Executive Directors. It went on to ask that the plan be presented at the 2021 Meeting of Members. You can read the full resolution here.

As you might guess, the resolution was soundly defeated. It was perceived as a challenge to Wayne LaPierre’s reign as EVP. One of the arguments made against it was that the bylaws had a so-called succession plan in that the Executive Director of General Operations would serve as the Interim EVP. While, of course, this was correct, it ignored the fact that people were dying right and left during that time period from Covid-19. Most at risk were those over 65 and those who had other health issues. In other words, Wayne who was 70 at the time and then-head of General Operations Joe DeBergalis who was, to put it mildly, obese.

My closing comment on the whole episode was this:

Resolutions at this Meeting of Members were pretty much doomed to failure in their original form. They best they could hope for was a referral to committee. A reasonable guesstimate of the number of voting members attending the meeting was in the 150-200 maximum range. That included 50 Board members, a number of their spouses, a number of older members from the area, and just a handful of us who want to see the NRA become a healthier organization. I really felt like I was one of the younger members in attendance and I’m 63!

I realize that change takes time and I need to play the long game. It is still frustrating but it is what it is. Just another great thing brought to you by 2020.

A post by Jeff Knox about the lack of leadership options written in May 2020 is what got me to researching succession planning. Much of my research went into a post from May 2020. It pointed out the people like Chris Cox, Ollie North, and Kyle Weaver had all been forced out of the NRA. It went on to say:

Healthy organizations have succession plans. Good leaders make it a priority. Development of future leaders is such an organizational imperative that it is usually under the purview of the CEO. Having a succession plan is both forward looking and a measure of risk management.

I stand by what I wrote in 2020. Healthy organizations do have succession plans and good leaders make it a priority.

I feel a vindication of sorts in that the NRA is finally seriously looking at what I presented almost six years ago to the day. Still, I have to wonder if the then-leadership of the NRA had been proactive about succession planning would the organization have had to endure the turmoil, loss of members, and tenuous finances that it does now. A viable successor and a willingness to act on it would have allowed the Board to push Wayne into retirement and potentially avoid much of fallout from the NY lawsuit.

We cannot go back and rewrite history. However, we can learn from it. I would hope the Executive Committee and ultimately this Board of Directors of which I am now a member will create a viable succession plan. Shakespeare wrote in The Tempest, “What’s past is prologue.” I hope he was correct.