The Succession Challenge

This book provides an interesting read on the nature and dimensions of effectively planning and implementing successful change in the leadership of schools. Dean's previous book Leadership for Mortals (Fink, 2005) is a great read and full of inspiration for leaders of schools however this is more of an academic review of the subject area of succession planning. Dean uses many of his experiences of change management in Canada and the UK to frame his reference for succession planning. It is a worthy addition to the literature and builds a detailed analysis of the supply and demand for leaders in school and how we create “pipelines, pools and reservoirs” of leaders to take on the challenge of the next generation of schools. Chapter eight on “Succeeding leader” is the most interesting of the book. The ones that come before tend to cover familiar ground and a series of issues which are rather uninspiring in their take on succession in the twenty‐first century. Chapter eight at last deals with the central challenge of what sort of leaders we want for future schools. These ideas come far too late in the book and should have been a theme that was established earlier and developed throughout the book. A major omission of this book is any serious consideration of “talent management” as a way of thinking about succession planning. The conceptual flaw in many discussions of succession planning is that it prepares individuals to take over existing roles in existing schools. A talent management approach subscribes to the view that we need a talented group of individuals who can create new roles and responsibilities in schools that have yet to be designed. A different concept entirely! This type of breakthrough thinking is absent in the book. Sadly this book falls short of the excellent “Leadership for mortals” which I described in this journal as a “must read” I could not say the same for this book.