What Every Leader Can Do to Build the Leadership Pipeline (09/23/2025)

September 23, 2025

Happy Tuesday!

It is a happy Tuesday indeed.

I’ve told you about it for weeks. If you have noticed me talking about Virtual LeaderCon but haven’t checked it out or registered, now is the time – because today is Day 2 of this free online event.

I said this last week, and I don’t really have a better way to say it. If you have ever gotten value from this newsletter, I promise you will get tremendous value, new ideas and solutions to many of your challenges when you participate in “VLC”. Four expert thought leaders join me today – as well as three tomorrow and three Thursday. Each day I share a session with you too. And during every session, you can ask your questions and share your ideas (and learn from other participants sharing theirs)!

If you are struggling with any part of your leadership journey, you will gain insights and ideas when you join us.

If you want to be a more effective and confident leader, invest some time with us this week. And when you do, type in the chat “I read your newsletter, Kevin” – it will improve the odds you win a prize.

Make it a great Tuesday and remember …

You are Remarkable!

Kevin 😊

Friends at Work

If I asked you if you wanted a job where you had a close friend at work that paid you more than you make today, chances are, you would ask, “When do I start?”

But what if we split the wages and the friend piece apart – what if I asked you to choose?

KPMG released the results to a survey last week that explored that question.

They found that 57% would choose a role with a salary 10% below market rates with close work friendships over a role with a salary 10% above market, but no close friendships.

Would you?

If as a leader this seems preposterous to you, I gently urge you to realize that not everyone feels the way you do and that we may have just helped you see a blind spot.

While I suppose this could be viewed as a cost-saving strategy (if they love working together, we don’t have to pay them as much), please don’t think about it that way.

Rather, see it as an opportunity to help create meaningful work, less loneliness, better mental health, higher productivity and much more.

Ask yourself these questions:

  • What am I doing to support interaction and connection across the team (especially if people work at a distance some or all the time)?

  • Do I encourage (or at least allow) people to talk about more than just work?

  • Is the culture a friendly and inviting one?

  • Would people in your organization say they have a close friend at work today?

Work is a system, not an exchange of dollars for time and effort. The more we see our team members as humans with human needs and desires, the better chance we have to create something valuable, meaningful, and even magical.

What Every Leader Can Do to Build the Leadership Pipeline

Succession planning is an exercise that senior leaders in most organizations engage in. It’s a generally accepted practice with an important goal – to identify and develop future leaders, typically for specific roles.

An unintended consequence of this practice is that it leaves leaders further down in the organization (who often have the best and most complete insight and perspective on future leaders) abdicating any responsibility for succession planning.

“That’s a senior leadership responsibility,” is what I hear or observe from leaders through the organization.

This identifies part of the potential problem with the typical succession planning. The problem is bigger than this though.

Thanks for reading. Please reply at any time with questions or feedback for our team.

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