Bring up the subject of succession planning and most HR and other executives shudder. These highly intelligent, capable people often labor under the impression that succession planning is such a complicated, multi-step process that they are already too far behind to even begin. read more »

I know I’ve been writing a lot about Succession Planning lately, but this business discipline is in need of serious management and strategic attention and  re-creation. I found this article, Opening Up Succession Plans, about Frontier Communications’  succession planning particularly interesting.

I’ll let you read it and then I’ll ask a question…”Are you a CEO  afraid to build out your succession plan because it’s planning your own funeral?” I have at least two pieces of advice for you. read more »

It is amazing to me how many businesses McKinsey & Company find that have not built succession plans, even for their CEO. That’s nearly half in the study. Considering that 100% of us die at some point in time, and 100% of us eventually leave our jobs in one way or another, it’s unbelievable anyone would consider not building a succession plan immediately for their CEO and key employees throughout the organization. What are they scared of that could possibly be worse than a gap in their leadership? read more »

First Quarter of the year is often the peak of the performance review and goal setting season. I have a few tips which are making these sessions much more enjoyable at Aquire this year. read more »

One reason Aquire is successful is that the most common way companies visualize their organization mentally and literally is through the org chart. Yet there is another triangular image in the career and talent management visualization which is also important. This is the Career Pyramid.

I have never liked the term “climbing the corporate ladder.” It implies that your career path is going to be linear. I have seldom seen paths to career nirvana as straight lines. Instead, there is an analogy, pulled together by Lindsey Pollak, that aggregates several examples of why building your career as a pyramid is valuable. read more »