A Fresh Look At Succession Planning

Succession planning is on the list of things that keep me awake at night. Instead of counting sheep, I see a huge elephant and I don't know where to take the first bite.

"While 50 percent of organizations have a structured process for Succession Management, only a small percentage produce effective results," writes The Conference Board.

I work in an organization that, like so many others, is facing an eventual exodus of many retirement eligible staff and our continued growth and success requires us to get succession planning right. We are in a good place with solid foundation of programs and processes in place and to build upon. 

Promising "innovative practices that get results," The Conference Board Succession Management Conference is an excellent opportunity to hear from some of the best and gather ideas and insights to build upon the initiatives and programs my organization - and yours - already has in place. 

Who are the best? The best include senior executives from New York Times, The FutureWork Institute, Center for Creative Leadership, Honeywell Aerospace, and Fed Ex.

Attending as a guest of The Conference Board,  I will be particpating in sessions, sharing conference highlights with you, and gathering information that I can bring back to my organization.

Is there anything in particular you'd like me to listen for? 

Better yet, consider joining me.

Privacy is Personal

I lived in Germany for almost 4 years and one thing I loved were rolladen. I had rolladens on most every window in every room of my apartment. When it came time to nap on a sunny afternoon or block out the world out after a long day at work, rolladen were king. 

One touch of a button - instant privacy! 

Really?

Rolladen be damned.

As a single, American, female Army officer renting an apartment owned by a single German woman (daring to) build a home on her own in a close knit traditional German town, any semblance of privacy was merely an illusion.

The same holds true with social media today.

Privacy settings, Facebook friend lists, Google alerts, locked up Twitter profiles, etc., provide a social media user today with a degree of privacy. But like rolladens, any semblance of privacy is merely an illusion.

Nothing is private on-line.

Nothing. 

I listen to, read thoughts on, and talk with people about privacy. If I ask 10 different people what they think, I will get 10 individual (and very different) takes on privacy and then I'll throw in mine.

The takes on privacy are individual (and very different) but, across conversations, consistent themes arise: 

• Privacy is safety, risk and reality. 
• Privacy is trial, error and regret.
• Privacy is connection, exposure and comfort.
• Privacy is emotional, primal and individual.

So what should you do? What should you do about privacy?

There isn't anything you should do - except what's right for you.

Privacy is personal. Only you can decide.

Note: As claustrophobic as I am, I was thankful to have the rolladens in each room on separate switches and rarely had any one rolladen completely down. Too freaky!

Photo credit iStockphoto