One of the hottest and most talked topics of 2008 and 2009 is regarding the health condition of the legendary Steve Jobs, and his imminent departure from Apple. To be honest, I’m a big fan of Steve due to his creativity and his bravery to venture into the unknowns. But maybe due to his extraordinary talents, he has since become someone who cannot be replaced in both the IT industry and also within Apple.

And that brings me to another point – is he really that important that, he alone is bigger and more important than the entire Apple? I thought there’s a saying in the football world which says that there’s no 1 player who is bigger than the football club. In this case, there should not be one employee/leader who is bigger than the company itself.

I think such employee is not easy to be replaced (unless the person was not working, but busy MSN-ing)

In my opinion, a successful company should always have a proper succession plan. We cannot deny the fact that there will always be some superstar employees or leaders in a company but we also cannot deny that these superstars will not be with the company forever. Nothing lasts forever in this world. And it is pretty likely that these superstars will not outlive a successful company (things might be different for unsuccessful companies who might wither out within few months or years). Thus, a succession plan should be in place in order to replace these superstars.

This is to ensure business will continue as usual without those superstars and hopefully the new replacement will be equally capable. Part of the so-called business continuity, remember?

Also, it is important to remember that the superstars should not focus on themselves too much. This is exactly what some of the business and managements books are trying to teach – to focus on the company, and not the individuals. Use their talents to build a superstar company, and not to make themselves shine brighter than the company. Because at the end of the day, the transition from an employee to another employee within a superstar company is much easier than the transition from a superstar employee to a yet-to-be-superstar employee. Remember that such transition is not known to be smooth and without any problem. Thus, it is important to try and keep it as problem-free and as smooth as possible.

Besides that, the shareholders might get pretty worried if a superstar is leaving and he is to be replaced by someone unknown. Maybe that explains why the share price of Apple Inc has been dropping since the news of Steve Jobs’ health started to spread like wildfire.

Last but not least, always have a succession plan even if the superstars or the leaders, or the employees, are not planning to leave anytime soon. Because you cannot predict what might happen tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow, a company larger than you will approach to buy over that employee immediately? Or maybe that employee has some family issues and need to quit as soon as possible? These things can be unpredictable. Thus, it is important to have a succession plan. A well-planned succession plan is always better than a last minute find-anyone-will-do succession plan. The last thing you want is to replace the superstar with someone who knows nuts about the company… or someone who is basically an idiot.

From the above points, you can see the importance of having a proper succession plan in your company. So if your current company currently does not have a succession plan, maybe it’s time to have one. You can’t afford to waste too much time finding the proper replacement (though most companies do that and end up getting the wrong guy). Time wasted = money wasted. And too much money wasted, will make your company more fragile.

Remember that, any company which can adapt faster than its competitors, will most likely do better in this fast-changing world.