High-Potential Leader Development
For organizations investing seriously in the next generation.
A development center built around the actual decisions a high-potential will face one role up — not a generic assessment. Hi-pos work live business cases, receive senior practitioner feedback, and leave with a documented development plan a CHRO and CEO can sponsor.
The challenge
Most high-potential programs measure participants against a generic competency rubric and produce a report that nobody acts on. The work that actually develops a high-potential is the work of doing the next role under conditions where the consequences are real enough to learn from and contained enough to recover from.
Who this is for
The leaders we work with
- High-potentials identified in the talent review
- Senior leaders being prepared for general management or C-suite roles
- Succession candidates being stress-tested before the formal slate is set
- CHROs and CEOs investing in the next decade of enterprise leadership
How we work
A diagnostic, developmental, validated arc.
- 01
Design
Custom case design with the sponsor. The cases are built around the organization’s actual strategic challenges — not generic scenarios pulled from a library.
- 02
Run
A 1.5- to 2-day intensive built around the cases. Multi-rater feedback from senior practitioners observing the work. Each participant receives a defensible read on where they sit relative to the role they are being developed for.
- 03
Plan
A written development plan signed by the participant and sponsor. Ninety-day follow-up to validate the plan has moved.
What changes
By the end of the engagement
- A defensible read on each participant against the role one level up
- A documented development plan a board and CEO can underwrite
- Concrete experience under high-fidelity, low-stakes conditions
- A succession bench the talent review can actually act on
Frequently asked
What clients ask before they engage.
- Is this an assessment or a development experience?
- Both. The development center is diagnostic in its measurement and developmental in its delivery — participants leave with a defensible read on where they are and a documented plan for where they need to go.
- How is this different from a generic HiPo program?
- Cases are custom-designed around the participating organization’s actual strategic challenges. Senior practitioners deliver and observe. The development plan is written for the sponsor, not for the L&D file.
- How many participants do you take per center?
- Usually eight to twenty per center. Smaller centers get more practitioner attention per participant; larger ones move more of the high-potential population through at once.