From trusting your instincts to building the right support network, leadership is a journey, not a destination, explains Ryan McKiernan, managing director of Fat Macy's.

How has it been in your first few months as CEO?
Now over two months into my new position at Fat Macy’s, it has been an exciting whirlwind of listening, learning, opportunity, and challenge. Despite spending over a decade in the charity sector prior to taking on my first ever CEO role, there has inevitably been a steep learning curve. Making the transition from overseeing a well-defined function or team within an organisation to leading an entire charity is a significant jump and step-change, no matter your level of preparation in advance or prior experience. In the past couple of months alone, I’ve stretched and developed my knowledge and skills in everything from programme delivery to estate management more than the previous 10 years combined. On a personal level, this has been incredibly rewarding and motivating to have such a renewed sense of professional challenge.

One of the most interesting aspects of taking on this job has been striking the right balance between overarching strategic leadership and on the ground operational management. As a small but mighty team at Fat Macy’s, we all find ourselves wearing multiple hats at any given time and it’s easy to become so engulfed in the day-to-day that you lose the capacity to focus on the bigger picture. Ensuring that you’re appropriately investing your time and abilities into both the next five days and the next five years is key.

As I settle into Fat Macy’s and we approach our 10th birthday in 2026, I am not only inspired by the journey that we’ve been on to date as an organisation, but also by our fantastic staff and the beneficiaries we serve through our employability and resettlement programme. Any charity and CEO are only as good as their people. This is a fundamental truth that will guide me over the coming months and years in my career.

Why do you think it's rare to see younger people as charity CEOs?
The average age of charity chief executives consistently hovers within the region of 50-55 years old, with those under 35 making up a small proportion of the total leadership landscape. The reasons for this are systemic, structural, and cultural, albeit not wholly unique to charities. With trustees typically skewing even older than their executive counterparts, there’s a possibility that boards simply hire in their own image, naturally gravitating towards candidates who resemble their profile. This tendency is also intermingling with the inherently cautious and risk-adverse nature of the sector where high levels of trust and reputational integrity must be maintained to attract funding, in addition to stringent governance and compliance requirements. The sum of all this is that boards are hesitant to consider younger candidates for CEO roles let alone offer them the position out of fear it could go wrong. In turn, this creates a negative feedback loop whereby the fewer young people we have in leadership positions, the fewer young candidates believe those roles are accessible to them and apply in the first place.

The charity sector’s ability to attract and retain the best talent, those being the most likely to quickly climb the ranks into chief executive or similar positions, must also be considered. Whether it’s the pay gap that exists between charities and other sectors, the financial and resource constraints that limit professional development within organisations, or the lack of clear career progression, all of these factors encourage high achievers and performers to look at alternate career paths.

What can the charity sector do to encourage more age diversity within leadership?
The creation of pathways for emerging leaders which can take on many different forms. At an organisational level, this may include current leaders offering mentoring and guidance to rising talent and subsequently offering those individuals real opportunities to flex those developing skills and knowledge on impactful projects. This could also mean increasing the age diversity of boards to instill good governance capabilities and exposure to the work of senior leadership teams from an early stage. Ensuring that recruitment is conducted in a manner which challenges the assumption that age and years of experience necessarily directly correlates to ability and wisdom is another possibility.

Ultimately, if charities wish to encourage younger leaders and all the energy, fresh perspective, and technology-savvy that they bring to the table, they need to invest more in early careers and broaden their risk appetite, recognising that the upside is worth it.

What advice do you have to other, relatively young, CEOs?
Reaching a chief executive position is not the end destination but rather the beginning of an entirely new journey, one which consists of making new mistakes, embracing unexpected challenges and opportunities, and continuously learning all the way. While being open to advice and input is important, don’t forget to trust in your own capabilities and instincts as well, they got you this far after all.

Building the right support network outside the structures of your organisation is also of paramount importance. Whether that’s friends and family, former colleagues, or other CEOs, having an external sounding board for ideas and discussion makes the world of difference.

And finally, accept that you won’t be able to fix everything all at once, effective change takes time.

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