A recent Global Benchmarking Council meeting, "Leadership Development and Succession Planning," has concluded that rigorous succession planning and leadership development programs help companies ensure seamless power transitions and reassure investors and customers.

The findings of the meeting are intended to help organizations benchmark their efforts in leadership development against those of the nation’s leading companies. The conclusions from the meeting, available by clicking here, offer an opportunity to see how companies such as IBM, Dell, American Express and Thomson grow their next generation of leaders. According to the report, leaders successfully build the following initiatives:

• Employing talent management models and identifying future leaders
• Growing employees through Six Sigma and business process improvement projects
• Ensuring diversity throughout the corporation
• Developing global leaders
• Measuring leadership, diversity and succession performance

More than 50 companies attended the Global Benchmarking Council meeting convened by Best Practices LLC, a research and consulting firm.