The Succession Paradox

Quantum Leap #9: Start with Yourself

Leading at Light Speed is a powerful leadership book for businesses, public agencies, and nonprofits revealing the 10 specific ways an organization must act and behave to build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization.

The Succession Paradox is a concept in Leading at Light Speed described in Chapter 9 along with three other Leadership Paradoxes. Buy the book to read about the other three.

It has often been said that the true test of a leader is how well you plan for your own departure. If the organization is well-stocked with capable successors, you have done your job. If you leave the organization drowning, you have not succeeded. The question isn't whether you have a succession plan. It is how able you are to surround yourself with people you believe to be capable of stepping up and taking over. And therein lies the paradox.

Some of the seemingly most successful leaders fail to find the path through this paradox. They can't handle the challenge of surrounding themselves with people who are ready to take their jobs. Again and again, we see examples of leaders failing to deal with the succession paradox.

On the other hand, we also see great success stories. The CEO of one of our client organizations built herself a team of highly capable leaders with whom she could surround herself. If anything ever happened to her, there was a wealth of worthy successors already lined up, and this knowledge gave her board of directors great peace of mind. At another, the CEO of a construction company made a conscious choice to confront this paradox. He hed a meeting off-site dedicated solely to the planning of futre company leaders. Together with his management team, they identified the selection criteria, evaluated the candidates, and then changed the management structure to give three colleagues the opportunity to buy into the firm.

Cutting through the succession paradox is easy once you let go of the notion of your own indispensability. It's another fear you have to overcome - a fear of the unknown. This step is not easily done by all, but it must be accomplished if a high performing organization is to be maintained.

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Leading at Light Speed is a groundbreaking leadership book highlighting the 10 Quantum Leaps to build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization. Take this free work survey to assess your organizational strengths and weaknesses.