SUCCESSION PLANNING & LEADERSHIP PIPELINE..

Successful Organizations survive for ages. There are over 60 organization in the world today who are more than 100 years old and thriving, contributing to over US$5 trillion revenue to the global economy.
While initially the passion from the promoters takes forward the organization and sets in  a growth path, it is not possible for the promoters to be with the organizations for ever. Hence to survive and thrive for a long period of time, the organizations need to find new leaders who may not be from the family of founders many a time.
In 1985, Apple Computers, after 9 years of existence, threw out its promoter Steve Jobs and brought in a new management under John Sculley. But the new leadership that has come from outside the company could not resonate with the original vision of the promoters and the dynamics of the market place and drove the company to disaster. This led to the recall of the original founders who led the company to unprecedented heights till the death of Steve Jobs in October 2011. What followed this time was a totally different scenario. The company carried forward the legacy with many more successes in the market place and became the most valued companies globally with a market capitalisation of over 500 Billion US Dollars, far ahead of the 2nd best in the word. This was possible due to well crated and executed succession plan.
Cisco, one of the finest companies in the world flourished after the exit of the promoters due to well crafted succession plan. John Chambers, the current chairman of Cisco who has taken the company from a small organization to a global leader with 40 Billion US Dollars is a product of an excellently executed succession planning effort at Cisco, that aimed to create a pipeline of leaders for the future.

In some family led companies the scions of the promoters take forward the agenda of the promoters successfully, provided they are well groomed to lead the business into the future. Classic examples like that of Reliance Industries ( Mukesh Ambani & Anil Ambani taking forward the mantel from Dhirubhai Ambani), Bajaj Auto ( Sanjeev Bajaj and Rajiv Bajaj taking over from Rahul Bajaj) and Kumara Mangalam Birla
( taking over from Aditya Vikram Birla ) are excellent cases of successful transition of leadership to the next generation of the family.
When the further generations do not share the passion of the founders are not in a position to take over successfully, organizations have to lan well ahead, separate the promoters from the leadership and carve out an succession planning strategy leading to the creation of a pipeline of leaders for the future.
Multinational organizations like Unilever, Infosys, Wipro, Tata Group, ICICI  have in place well planned and managed programs to develop the leaders to take over the mantle, whenever any gaps arise or when the organizations experience growth.
HCL group successfully transitioned the executive leadership from its charismatic promoters to professional leadership successfully that future proofs its business and ensure continuity.
Developing a well crafted Succession planning an creation of a strong pipeline of capable leaders who re oriented well to take the organization into the future is a must for the 21st century organizations who wish to last for ever.