What you will gain:

  • Proven strategies for a smooth leadership transition

  • Practical tools and workbooks for planning & executing your leadership transition

  • Go beyond the "search for a successor". Instead, explore comprehensively dozens of organizational factors that guarantee you success

  • Live group sessions to share, troubleshoot and add that extra boost to deepen your learning and application

  • Best case practices sharing

  • Customized 1-on-1 support in your organization and leadership transition journey (optional)

  • Peer learning & support with other like-minded leaders

Watch Intro Video

What you can expect in this program

A message from your coaches

This program is for you if ...

  • You are building and leading an organization that you desire to create a long-lasting & sustainable impact.
  • You are an individual who is passionate and invested in supporting business leaders, entrepreneurs, social innovators grow their organizations. You do this through roles such as serving in boards, as an investor or an ecosystem builder. 

Our Background & Experience

Martha Karimi

Martha leads our Senior Leadership Transition, Coaching and Recruiting departments. She is a passionate innovator with a keen interest in enabling individuals unleash their true potential to live their best lives and helping leaders build high-performing & healthy organizations. Martha has vast experience in talent management and organization development from diverse sectors: From Fortune 500 firms, midsized companies to non-profits. Having worked and lived in India, Tanzania and Kenya with colleagues from 30+ countries, she’s a multi-cultural leader. Her spontaneity, never stop questioning attitude and no box disruptive thinking is her secret sauce for guiding business leaders to navigate chaos bravely, gain clarity and move with laser focus action in creating impact. She is the author of So You Feel Stuck in Your Career? 20 thought-provoking ideas and 100+ self-coaching tools to awaken your inner guru and get you moving boldly!

Manuela Müller

Manuela has supported impact-driven entrepreneurs and leaders in accelerating their teams and vision for over 12 years. She has been involved in countless community initiatives since her youth and curious how to build truly impactful and innovative organizations that last, she ventured into the HR and Talent Management world while obtaining a computer science and business double degree in Germany. Based in London, she co-ran a global social impact talent development program, and her work with social entrepreneurs and impact investors took her to over a dozen countries, supporting over 80 growth-stage ventures. In 2014 Manuela returned to Nairobi to co-found edge in Kenya and leading edge’s Organization Development work, she builds on her diverse experiences in the consulting, corporate, academic and start-up world. Her core drivers are improvement, fairness and participation.

Program curriculum

  • 1

    Module 1: The Best Time to Get Ready for Transition

    • Lesson 1: 3 Reasons WHY It Matters To Think of Leadership Transition Early

    • Lesson 2: 8 Key areas for Leadership Transition Planning

    • Tool: Transition Planning Checklist
  • 2

    Module 2: Leadership Transition as A Legacy Creation Opportunity

    • Lesson 1: Leadership Transition as a Legacy Creation Opportunity

    • Tool: 21 Day Legacy Creation Journey Guide
  • 3

    Module 3: The Three Costs of Leadership Transition

    • Intro: Your leadership transition is an investment! Why costs matter

    • Lesson 1: Overview Over the 3 Costs

    • Tool: Building a Successful Action Plan - Course Handout

    • Lesson 2: Financial Cost

    • Lesson 3: Emotional Cost

    • Lesson 4: Organization Efficiency Cost

    • Strengthen your Action Plan Further & Next Steps
  • 4

    Module 4: Where is my Successor? Uncommon Talent Sourcing Ideas

    • Lesson 1: Think Unorthodoxically to Win

    • Lesson 2: Out of The Box Successor Sourcing Ideas
  • 5

    Module 5: Managing the Transition Process Itself

    • Introduction: Key Aspects of the Transition Process

    • Workbook for Module 5 (download)

    • Lesson 1: Why the Candidate Experience is Crucial to Attract the Leader You Desire

    • Lesson 1 (part 2): Visualizing Your Perfect Candidate

    • Lesson 1 (part 3): How to Deliver a 5-star Candidate Experience

    • Lesson 2: Choosing the Right Recruitment Partner

    • Lesson 3: Building a Strong Transition Committee

    • Lesson 4: Comprehensive Thinking to Define the Role Clearly

    • Lesson 4 (part 2): Nailing Down Your Profile Requirements & Putting Together the Job Description

    • Lesson 5: Effective Candidate Assessment

    • Lesson 6: Setting up your Successor for Success

    • Summary & Next Steps
  • 6

    Module 6: The Year After A New Leader Steps in

    • Lesson 1: The Road to Victory

    • Lesson 2: 9 Roles The Outgoing Leader Plays

    • Lesson 3: Create Conscious Questions & Spaces

    • Tool: Conscious Questions for Powerful Conversations

Ready to get started?

Invest in your leadership and organization transition today!

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Is everything online?

    This is an automated self-driven course. Meaning all learning resources are accessed online. Our learning communities are also hosted virtually.

  • Do the classes meet at a specific time during the week?

    No. You can complete the coursework at your most convenient time!

  • How do I connect with other learners?

    We host live sessions on Zoom every month. This brings together all learners for sharing best case practices, deepening learning and Q&A with the learning coaches.

  • What learning resources should I expect?

    The course includes short videos of 3-15 minutes each and checklists, reflection guides and action plan templates to download and work through.

  • Can I take this course as a team or together with my board?

    As we will discuss in the course, a leadership transition is a very holistic project and touches various aspects and functions within the organization. One of the lessons will help you plan for how you will communicate the leadership transition to key stakeholders. We highly recommend that you share your learnings with your board and other co-leaders in the organization.

  • Can I receive college credit for these courses?

    At this time edge is not offering courses in conjunction with an institution of higher learning, so no college course credits will be earned by participants.

  • Who should I contact if I have questions about a course?

    Any questions about the Leadership Transition Program by edge should be directed to Martha D. Karimi at [email protected]

  • How do I register for the online courses?

    At the top right corner, check for the sign up button. You will be directed to a page that prompts you to pay through PayPal.

  • I’ve registered and paid for a course. How do I access it?

    You will receive an email containing your login information one business day prior to the first day of the class. Once you register, you will have lifetime access for the course.

Client Transformation Stories

The Partners at edge were really knowledgeable and dedicated to making sure we had the perfect addition to our senior team. There's no more unnerving feeling than putting months and months of work into a transition only to get it wrong - and with edge, you have a thought partner who knows that and will do everything so that you get it right. 

- Zach Fowler, Executive Director at WISER International



edge provided extraordinary support in our executive search process. They invested deeply in understanding our organization and needs, and challenged us to ensure clarity on the role’s responsibilities and the criteria by which we would evaluate our candidates. We then structured an incredibly comprehensive process to ensure each candidate was properly vetted. They advised on all aspects of the hiring process from the offer negotiation to structuring the probationary period.  

We would never have been able to navigate and succeed in finding the right hire without the expertise, network, and intentional care that edge offered. 

- Gretchen Steidle, Founder at Global Grassroots