Perfecting the hi-po process

That's why leading companies are investing in their high-potential employees. Take Unilever North America, for example. It decided to create an action-learning-based program to develop its future leader pipeline. Meanwhile, IBM has a highly competitive Corporate Service Corps that's harder to get into than Harvard.

Then there's General Electric, which not only has two 100-year-old high-potential programs - one for developing mid-level corporate audit staff and another for engineering-school graduates - but also boasts that these programs have generated nearly a third of the organisation's top 650 leaders.

With the coming demographic dip in the future-leader talent pool and the pending mass retirement of baby boomers, investing in a hi-po program is essential. HR professionals are increasingly being called on to support their organisation's strategy through well-built career-architecture programs. Pay careful attention to that future-leader pipeline and those in it will be more engaged and well-positioned to direct strategy in the future.

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