Companies that grow well rarely wait for a vacancy to think about leadership. They identify the roles that will matter in two years and start building relationships with the people who could fill them.
A leadership bench combines internal development with an external view of the market. Knowing who is out there, and what it would take to attract them, turns a future emergency into a planned decision.
Start small: map your three most critical roles, assess your internal successors honestly and keep a short list of external leaders you would want to meet.
