The Hidden Gap
When a regional VP was promoted to CEO at a 600-person civil engineering firm, he arrived with strong relationships and a fresh perspective. What he saw, however, gave him pause.
The company had been remarkably stable at the top—seven C-suite leaders with almost no turnover for over a decade. But that stability came with a hidden cost: no one had been thinking about who would step up next.
There was no succession plan. No development pipeline. And when we helped the team dig into the details, the gaps were even wider than expected.
The Hidden Vulnerabilities
In just two days of our Succession Blueprint workshop, we uncovered several blind spots:
One regional VP was seen as the “heir apparent” for three different C-suite roles. But he could obviously only fill one—if any-because...
That same VP had no one ready to take his place. Promoting him would leave his region unanchored.
One critical C-suite role had no viable internal successor at all (and leaving the position unfilled could open up the company to lawsuits).
The company was short on talent.
Because they had never built a plan to develop it.
The Fix
We worked with the CEO to:
Identify immediate and future successors for every C-suite role.
Create development plans tailored to each individual.
Launch a strategy to train eight potential regional VPs (expecting four to fall away during the development process).
Recommend immediate hiring for one C-suite “orphan” role.
Build a four-year leadership development curriculum for the entire organization (at the CEOs request; he didn’t want to have to go through this again – he wanted surety and security).
From risk management coaching to business acumen courses, the leadership team now has a playbook to strengthen their bench at every level.
Lessons Learned
Long-term stability can mask long-term vulnerability.
One superstar isn’t a strategy. Replication is key.
Leadership development is a long game—you can’t cram for it.
Actions You Can Take
Audit your bench. Who’s ready now? Who’s next?
Identify irreplaceables. Then build depth behind them.
Create role-specific development plans instead of generic training.
Don’t wait for turnover. Prepare leaders before there’s a vacancy.
Succession planning isn’t about replacing people. It’s about protecting your company’s future.
