Ask most organizations about their succession plan and you’ll get one of two answers: a nervous laugh, or a name in an envelope. Neither one is a plan.
I led an organization for fifteen years and then handed it to someone else. The handoff worked, not because we picked the right name early, but because we built three things long before we needed them.
First, a bench. Not one successor, but several people getting real responsibility, real budgets, and real chances to fail safely while I was still there to catch it. Second, a rhythm. The meetings, the dashboards, the decision rights, all documented and running well enough that the organization didn’t depend on my memory. Third, a board that knew its job: govern the transition, not manage it.
The envelope approach fails because it treats succession as an event. It’s not. It’s a capability you build years ahead, and it pays off even if nobody ever leaves, because benches and rhythms make organizations better right now.
If your whole plan is a name, start over. Build the bench, set the rhythm, teach the board. Then the name almost picks itself.