Today's Wall Street Journal featured columnist Carol Hymowitz's discussion of the importance for organizations to develop and have in place CEO succession plans way before the position is open.  While this is an important consideration, an equally important, no maybe an even more important, consideration is how well your organization is developing a talent pipeline throughout all layers of management.

What kind of talent pipeline currently exists?  How are potential stars identifyied?  How are they groomed?  What special experiences and challenges are placed before them to increase their abilities?

These are important considerations for all levels of your organization?  If you cannot identify two to three potential replacements for every critical leadership or supervisory position under your authority, you have not done a good job in developing a talent pool.

As a final thought, when developing your talent pool, today's constantly changing business environment requires you to look for leaders with the strengths and skills your organization will need for tomorrow, not those required yesterday.