One Important Job: Preparing Your Team to Lead Without You

We all heard the big news last week that Steve Jobs has resigned as Apple’s CEO and that Tim Cook, their former COO, will take over as CEO.

I’m sure a million questions went through all of our heads as we heard the somewhat surprising news. However, I doubt the news was a surprise to Jobs and Apple’s board. It has been widely reported that Jobs had built a very strong bench of leaders who clearly understood his vision.

The news of Jobs’ stepping down should force many of us to think about our own succession plan. While we don’t run or maybe even work in a company as large as Apple, it doesn’t change the fact that we too should have a succession plan in place.

What’s your plan if you should suddenly be unable to lead tomorrow? (more…)