About seven or eight years ago, I worked with the CEO of a global manufacturing firm. We were in his office for about 2.5 hours (in theory for a media training but he didn’t want to because he was tired) so we talked mostly about his career. I gently raise the oh-so-popular topic of a succession plan. Did he have one? Not really. Who would be in line for his job? Four or five people could be ready someday. Did he want to discuss some high level coaching? Yea, let’s talk about it in a months; too much going on right now.

That night, he dropped dead of a heart attack.

I don’t think the place has ever been the same. The guy was the picture of health one day. The next day, gone.

What happened next was interesting. Two people have since sat in the corner office but they never really fit into the big chair. You can blame them, but that would be too simple. The circumstances were tough.

The first guy walked into a place so stunned by the loss they simply couldn’t get their minds around a new leader with his own ideas. His style was a mismatch; like sticking a square peg into a round hole.

The second guy was worse; he had come up through the ranks but had been away in Europe for several years. He came back to a place that was angry and disillusioned. The company was losing its way. They had no confidence the second guy understood. They would walk out of their own SLT meetings, get on email and start bad-mouthing decisions that had just been made. There was constant jockeying for power. It was a soap opera. Good people left or retired. The water cooler was grand central station. Two and three levels down people tried in vain to figure out their own career paths. With all the internal strife, important things like customer relationships suffered.

I know you probably think I’m now going to lower the boom and launch into a lecture on succession planning. It’s not necessary. Everybody knows their company “needs” it. The question is why the process stops there. Don’t get me wrong - there are meetings. The HR people come in to meet with the senior leaders toting sophisticated leadership competency models, succession planning tools, charts with high potential names; and yet everybody leaves the meeting saying “Nobody’s ready to lead.”

Bad stuff happens-people die. Good stuff happens- people decide to retire, play a little golf, take a sabbatical, start a nonprofit, spend time with the grand kids, travel, or stay home.

Either way, the outcome is the same. New People Must Step Up.

There are companies that do this well. They invest early and often in promising talent. They do more than sit around and talk about who they like (and don’t like.) They look at this as part of their legacy. They really want to leave the place better in better hands.

Still, it’s difficult. Who wants to think about the end? Many of us want to die with our boots on; some of us just can’t imagine playing golf all day. And even if we know we’ll be ready to leave someday, most of us are so healthy and energized by our work that we feel younger than we felt 20 years ago.

We’ll worry about it tomorrow. Right now, we have the second quarter to deal with.

I’m no psychiatrist, but I am an executive coach, as well as the CEO of my own small company. So with that in mind I offer these thoughts to CEOs, Senior Leaders, HR professionals, Talent Management Specialists, Succession Planning Teams.

When I started writing my second book, Motivate like a CEO, I had a chance to talk with a number of leaders about how they viewed their own leadership teams. A lot of them observed their folks needed to learn to think, act, speak, and inspire others. Hence, the book.

I’ve thought about it a lot in the ten years I’ve been in this business and I believe more than ever that you can help people become great leaders. Even if you bootstrapped your way to the top, you probably did have some help along the way, and if you didn’t you have to admit you might have benefitted if you had.

Investing in people is a really good thing. You can help good people become great. They can to motivate, influence and inspire. If you invest it will accelerate this development and build a strong leadership pipeline.

In our practice we always say we can tell if somebody “has it.” It’s usually clear in the first coaching session that someone is serious, has the right stuff, and is going to take advantage of the opportunity. They will emerge as the leaders of tomorrow.

To me, the formula is simple. Invest a little training and development in a lot of people and see what sticks. Pick out enough good people from that group, and invest more in them. Pick out the best and invest a ton. keep going. That investment will pay off.

And everybody will sleep better at night.