Succession plans exist. So why do leadership gaps still surprise companies?
Summary: Anastasia Lesovaya explores the reasons behind the surprise leadership gaps in organizations, despite having succession plans, talent reviews, and leadership frameworks. They question where the hidden leadership risks are, whether in weak succession planning, overconfidence in internal pipelines, or organizational structures that obscure dependencies. Additionally, they seek insights on who typically realizes these issues first – HR, the business, or senior leadership after the impact becomes apparent. The author invites experiences and observations on how these scenarios unfold in practice.
Many organizations have succession processes, talent reviews, and leadership frameworks in place.
But in reality, leadership risk often seems to become visible only when it is already expensive:
a key person exits, a transition stalls, a critical role has no ready successor, or a business unit turns out to be more dependent on one leader than anyone realized.
So I’m curious:
Where do leadership risks actually hide until it’s too late?
in weak succession visibility?
in overconfidence around internal pipelines?
in org structures that mask dependency?
in the gap between HR processes and business reality?
And who usually sees the issue first — HR, the business, or only senior leadership once the impact is already there?
Would love to hear how you’ve seen this play out in practice.
