Leadership Now Project CEO Daniella Ballou-Aares recently spoke with Semafor’s Morgan Chalfant about Congressional retirements, term limits, and why succession planning is as essential in Congress as it is in business.
At Leadership Now Project, we believe the country needs to reinvigorate the center with credible, capable new leaders. Creating opportunities for rising talent—and establishing a retirement norm at age 75—would help open space for the next generation and strengthen American governance.
In her conversation with Semafor, Daniella emphasized the importance of bringing broader experience into Congress:
“What we’ve always been worried about as an organization is: is there enough experience outside of politics? We’ve seen more national security backgrounds enter Congress in recent years, which has been good, but there is still limited experience with the economy. You could tackle that with term limits or, as we’ve focused on, establishing a norm of retirement at age 75. While legislating these reforms would require constitutional amendments, shifting norms can begin now.”
She also underscored the value of talent practices that are common in business but rare in politics:
“Talent management in the political world doesn’t do a lot of what we see the best companies do—like succession planning. For a successful political party, adopting those practices would strengthen leadership and lead to better decisions.”
