With A Straight Bat

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The hardest part of succession is not choosing who follows you. It is deciding who others will choose to follow when you are gone.

We have all worked with “managers with titles.” People who look like leaders on paper but never really earn the trust that makes someone worth following.

Over the years, I have sat through the usual succession planning frameworks – modules, charts, neat slides. They all have their place. But I have realized the real test is much simpler. For me, it always comes back to three questions. These are the questions I return to, time and again, whenever I think about succession in any team I lead:

• Will this person put shared ambition above personal ambition?
• Will they spread opportunity instead of hoarding it?
• Will they ask: Are we growing in ways that make us collectively indispensable? And not just … Are my people completing the tasks I gave them?

Because here is the thing: management is about allocating resources. Leadership is about cultivating trust.

Anyone can become a leader, but not by default. It takes unlearning self-preservation. It takes the courage to look beyond a loyal inner circle. Real leadership is not about being liked by those who sit closest. It is about being trusted by people you may never meet. Because your choices widened their possibilities too.

Succession, in the end, is not written in a chart. It shows up in how you answer those three questions.

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