People Succession: Lessons from Forward Thinking Executives in Middle-Market Companies

This book is a must read for executives, the board of directors, and people managers in middle-market and aspiring middle-market companies who want to proactively reduce workforce risks so that business goals can be achieved.

This succinct read is tailored to today's busy business leaders and:

• Starts with 3 scenarios of an organization with a promising path for growth. The first scenario assumes business strategy execution without incident. The second scenario shows the economic dip over a 5 year period resulting from the unexpected departure of a key executive. The third scenario shows how the initial loss of the key executive snowballs into dramatically disappointing organizational results over a 5 year horizon.

• Is loaded with first-hand experiences shared by 25+ executives in middle-market companies interviewed for the book who currently do succession planning and reap its many benefits (i.e. peer learning in print).

• Provides a road map of the 7 steps involved in the people succession process in addition to time saving tips.

• Identifies the top 9 derailers to people succession and how to address them.

• Reveals sensible approaches used by busy executives when preparing people for future responsibilities.

• The book explains why companies that rely too heavily on recruiting from the external candidate pool put business strategy execution at risk.

• Speaks to CEO succession, board issues, and the monitoring of key performance indicators for determining if your people succession works.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Forethought
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: Why Succession Planning and Management Matters
Chapter 2: People Succession Defined
Chapter 3: The School of Hard Knocks
Chapter 4: Career Champions
Chapter 5: Climate Counts
Chapter 6: Derail the Derailers
Chapter 7: Derailer 9: Career Conversations
Chapter 8: Talent Magnet Tool Kit
Chapter 9: Wanted: Blue Boxers
Chapter 10: The Board and Talent Analytics
Chapter 11: Ready, Set, Go
Afterthoughts
About the Author