Why Succession Planning Should Precede Promotion, According to Leonardo Freixas

In a recent LinkedIn post, Leonardo Freixas discusses a common but flawed approach to promotions within companies, arguing that the traditional method of promoting top performers without ensuring continuity creates significant organizational fragility. Freixas contends that businesses often promote their best individual contributors, leaving a void that is then difficult to fill, leading to a reactive and panicked hiring process.

Freixas proposes a fundamentally different model for career advancement. He states:

“The better rule is simple: Train your replacement first. No succession, no promotion.”

This principle, according to Freixas, is crucial for sustainable growth and effective leadership. He elaborates on the distinction between performance and leadership, a key theme in his post.

Distinguishing Performance from Leadership

Freixas highlights a critical misunderstanding in many corporate environments: the confusion between individual performance and true leadership capabilities. He argues that while high performance is valuable, it does not inherently equate to leadership potential.

According to Freixas:

“This is where companies confuse performance with leadership. Performance is what you can produce. Leadership is what keeps producing without you.”

This distinction is central to his argument. Freixas observes that organizations often overlook this in their promotion cycles. He points out that high performers might be stalled in their careers precisely because they haven’t cultivated others’ abilities. Conversely, individuals who may be less flashy but have successfully built teams that can operate independently are often the ones who advance. This, he suggests, is not unfairness but a vital signal about an individual’s leadership capacity.

The Perils of Being Irreplaceable

Freixas further explores the consequences of leaders who hoard knowledge and skills, framing it as a source of organizational weakness. He contrasts this with leaders who actively transfer knowledge and decision-making authority, thereby building greater capacity within their teams.

He writes:

“A leader who hoards knowledge creates fragility. A leader who transfers judgment creates capacity.”

The allure of being indispensable, Freixas notes, can be a double-edged sword. While it might feel like leverage in the short term, it can become a significant impediment to company growth and scalability. As organizations expand, leaders who are central to every operation become bottlenecks, hindering progress rather than facilitating it.

Earning the Next Level

Freixas concludes by emphasizing that advancement should be a testament to one’s ability to empower others and build resilient teams. The path to the next level, in his view, is not about demonstrating personal indispensability but about making one’s current role and team less dependent on them.

He reiterates his core message:

“No succession, no promotion. Not as punishment. As proof.”

This perspective challenges traditional promotion paradigms, advocating for a system that prioritizes the development of future leaders and the creation of sustainable organizational capacity. Freixas suggests that this approach is essential for leaders aiming to build ambitious ventures without becoming the sole point of failure.