It’s time to stop treating succession like a box to check—and start seeing it as your best tool for unlocking hidden talent.

At the Milwaukee Talent Development Conference 2025, Jennifer Kern and Matt Sernaker delivered a powerful call to action: evolve your leadership playbook from control and cloning to trust, improvisation, and inclusive growth. Their session reframed succession planning as a daily practice—not a once-a-year HR task.

Instead of grooming carbon copies of today’s leaders, they challenged us to foster environments where individuals can experiment, stretch, and bring their full selves forward. That means modeling courage, showing vulnerability, and creating space for people to take risks without fear of retribution.

🔑 What Forward-Thinking Talent Leaders Can Do Now:

• Coach, don’t just delegate: Empowerment means being present—co-creating, not handing off.

• Liberate talent to lead differently: Stop rewarding mimicry. Invite diverse thinking, even when it’s uncomfortable.

• Set the rhythm, then step back: Think jazz, not marching band. Define outcomes—but let your people shape the journey.

“Potential won’t show up unless leaders make it safe to act.” — Jennifer Kern, Lake Forest Center for Leadership

This session emphasized that empowerment isn’t passive. Liberation isn’t about letting go—it’s about leaning in with intention and trust. Real succession planning happens in the moments when leaders choose to make space, model learning, and prioritize long-term development over short-term perfection.

If you want a stronger bench and a more resilient culture, stop replicating what worked in the past—and start unlocking what’s possible now.