Visionary, Manager of Talent & Succession Planner

Imagine a future without you. How well would your team or organization fare when, for whatever reason, you were gone?

I decided several weeks ago to write this month about Steve Jobs and Apple. Specifically, I have been thinking lately about the importance of talent management and succession planning. With Job's death this past Wednesday, the message becomes all the more compelling.

Steve Jobs was many things: visionary business leader, talented inventor and designer, and brilliant marketing guru who knew intuitively what kinds of products we wanted even before we did. He was, however, such a unique creative genius, that many in the business and technology communities wonder if his particular skill set can ever be replaced. Will Apple without his leadership be the same dynamic growth company that it has been with him at the helm? It will be years before we know the definitive answer to this question, but Jobs worked diligently to ensure that the pieces were in place to extend his legacy of success.

Steve Jobs's handpicked successor as CEO, Tim Cook, has on three occasions starting in 2004 run the company while Jobs was out on medical leave. While Cook is an entirely different personality from Jobs, he has so far received solid marks for his stewardship and leadership skills.

Jobs and Apple's board also put in place measures to retain and develop talented managers, including financial incentives and an annual retreat for the company's "top 100" managers to discuss strategy, product development, and the future of Apple. Jobs established Apple University to generate and teach case studies to junior employees that will promote institutional knowledge. Senior Apple executives facilitate classes that perpetuate Jobs's legacy of creativity, innovation and decision making. The best of many recent articles I have read on succession at Apple is from the October 7 Wall Street Journal.

The October Harvard Business Review is entitled, "The Talent Issue." HBR says, "In tough economic times, most companies cut back on talent development programs and barely consider succession planning. The best companies keep their talent pipelines full no matter what - which may be why they stay on top." While the lessons from Steve Jobs's brilliant run as CEO of Apple are numerous and far reaching, none is more important than the example of his determined effort over many years to ensure that the institution he loved so dearly would continue to thrive and grow without him.