Leaders should be training the people who will replace them.

Leadership development is not a side initiative. It is not something you squeeze in if the calendar opens up. It is the job.

Organizations that treat developing leaders as a core business advantage outperform those that treat it as a “nice to have.” This is especially true when that development intentionally builds a diverse bench of leaders with different backgrounds, perspectives, and operating styles. Homogeneous leadership teams miss risks. Diverse ones surface them earlier.

I’m a big fan of the TV show Succession, but Logan Roy is a perfect example of what not to do. Over four seasons, he dangled succession in front of at least three of his children. What he never did was invest the sustained time and structure required to actually prepare any of them to take over.

For all his brilliance as a self-made billionaire who rose from poverty in Scotland to run a global media empire, he failed at people development. He never built a real successor.

No one gets to the top on their own. And no organization sustains success without leaders who take development seriously.

Too many leaders treat development like filler. “I have a gap on my calendar, who can I mentor today?” That mindset misses the point entirely.

From your first role as a frontline supervisor to CEO of a global enterprise, the responsibility is the same: identify your replacement, invest in them, and grow them until they are ready.

If you are not doing that, you are not fully doing the job.