Succession planning is treated like a board exercise until someone leaves at the wrong time. Then leaders discover how much was riding on one person, how thin the internal bench truly was, and how little confidence anyone has in the handoff. By that point, the company is not building a pipeline. It is managing a problem.

That is the wrong way to handle leadership continuity. A sound succession process is not only about replacing the chief executive. It is about ensuring the business can keep moving when a division head retires, a founder steps back, a plant leader is recruited away, or a top operator burns out and decides he has had enough. In plain terms, it is about whether the company has enough ready people to run the place without drama.