Do you know who your CEO will be half a century from now?
Yesterday after months of waiting and days of speculation, featuring what the NY Times described as “webcams showing live scenes of inactivity,” the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to a son. Half a century from now, the young man could be King.
That’s how succession planning works in Britain. The NY Times described it this way.
“The baby, a boy who weighed in at 8 pounds, 6 ounces, will not be king for some time: he has to wait in the long line behind his great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth; his grandfather Prince Charles; and his father, Prince William.”
Barring a coup (that’s what we call it when a government “brings in an outsider as CEOâ€) Britain is pretty sure that the young fellow born yesterday is likely to be the King one day. For this job, anyway, the recruiting is done. Let the development begin.
There are two lessons embedded in that, even if your company doesn’t bring it people in swaddling clothes or select your CEO fifty years out. They’re about limits of forecasting and the importance of development.
The future is going to surprise us. It always does. Your succession plan must allow for that, first by making sure that there’s a backup plan. Centuries of practice have the backup worked out for Britain, you need to make sure that you’ve got qualified people who can replace your first choice if circumstances change.
Since you can’t base development on what the future will be, you have to fall back on things that the future won’t affect. Values are vital and so is the ability to make wise decisions.
For today, let’s celebrate. Then let’s start thinking about values-based development for an uncertain future.
