The Silver Tsunami is no longer on the horizon. It has arrived, and the tide is rising. More than 10,000 Americans turn 65 every day, a trend that will continue throughout the 2030s. By the end of the decade, every baby boomer will have reached retirement age, and 65% more workers are projected to retire in 2027 than in 2012.

This is not a temporary spike. It’s a generational transition happening at scale—one that will fundamentally reshape company leadership. The wave of retirements is not just reducing headcount; it’s taking decades of institutional knowledge, decision-making, and relational capital with it.

The question for CEOs and HR leaders is not “Who is leaving?” but “Who is ready to take their place?” And what are we doing to make sure they are?

The One Percent That Creates Traction

Succession planning cannot be a one-time initiative. It must become a leadership habit. The goal is not to manage retirements but to create a sustainable system that develops new leaders before there’s a crisis.

The solution lies in what One Percent Today calls The Next 1%—small but powerful steps that build momentum and keep your leadership pipeline future-ready.

There are 3 shifts that transform succession from a plan into a culture:

Shift 1: People Over Process

Shift 2: Start Small and Start Now

Shift 3: Make Coaching the Catalyst

By mastering these three shifts, you can change the trajectory of succession at your company.

Shift 1 - People Over Process

A plan alone will not unlock potential. People do.

Most succession strategies collapse because they focus more on process than on potential.

To future-proof leadership, start by aligning personal aspirations with business opportunities. When employees understand how their goals connect to the company’s mission, they invest differently. Their growth becomes self-driven, and retention rises naturally.

This shift requires turning succession from an HR checklist into an organization-wide mindset. The goal isn’t to predict who will fill a role; it’s to prepare people to reach their full potential and build the skills, confidence, and clarity to thrive in what’s next. When people feel seen, valued, and intentionally developed, talent grows from within.

Create opportunities to build trust and ask your employees one (or all) of these questions:

What part of your work gives you the most energy right now?
If you could design your ideal next challenge, what would it include?
What would make you excited to grow within this organization?
How do your personal goals align with where you see the company going?

Shift 2 - Start Small and Start Now

The most common mistake companies make is trying to design an all-encompassing plan. When the process is too big, it becomes impossible to manage or sustain.

Begin by identifying your most critical roles, those essential for business continuity and strategic direction, and confirm the competencies that define success.

Be careful not to confuse critical positions with critical people. A top performer might have a big impact, but that doesn’t always make their role irreplaceable. Ask whether the risk lies with the position or with the person. Focus on 3 or 4 criteria that matter most to your organization’s success.

Once those roles are clear, update success profiles. Focus less on static job descriptions and more on what the role will require in the next 3 to 5 years. Succession must align with strategy - not the other way around.

Ask yourself:

If this role were vacant for 90 days, what impact would it have on our customers, operations, or strategy?
Is the risk in losing this person or losing this position and what does that tell us about how we’ve structured our team?
After identifying all critical roles, narrow your focus to the top 20%, the roles that would create the greatest disruption if left unfilled.

Shift 3 - Make Coaching the Catalyst

Identifying high potentials is only the beginning. The real unlock comes from understanding what they actually want.

Many organizations assume upward movement equals ambition. But not everyone wants the top job and forcing them toward it often leads to burnout or attrition. This is where coaching and attitudinal insight come in.

Tools like the Energy Leadership Index (ELI) reveal how leaders think, respond under pressure, and lead through change. Coaching then brings those insights to life. It helps people articulate their goals, name what drives them, and face what holds them back.

True coaching isn’t advice; it’s awareness in action. It’s a partnership built on curiosity, accountability, and belief in potential. When employees help design their own growth paths, they own them. When they own them, they commit.

The JOEY Restaurant Group offers a powerful example: leaders there complete 24 hours of coaching training before they can coach others, and 36 more before training new coaches. The result was a 682% return on investment, driven by lower turnover and higher engagement. Their coaching culture became so strong, it won the International Coach Federation’s Prism Award for excellence.

Coaching is not a soft skill. It’s a strategic investment that multiplies growth from the inside out.

Understand What High Potentials Actually Want:

Use open-ended, curiosity-driven questions to uncover true aspiration.
Implementing the ELI to reveal how leaders show up, both on a good day and under stress, and their potential to motivate and inspire others
Start small by training a core group of leaders in foundational coaching skills (listening, curiosity, accountability).

Measure What Matters
You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Most organizations track coverage for key roles but forget to track development momentum. Measure readiness. Measure engagement.
Measure alignment between personal aspirations and company goals. What gets measured gains attention, and what gains attention improves.
Try this:

Create a simple dashboard that tracks more than role coverage. Include metrics like:
Readiness level (now, soon, future)
Engagement trends
Progress toward development goals
Alignment between personal aspirations and company needs

Review the scorecard monthly or quarterly to spot patterns, gaps, and early risks.

The Future-Proof Formula

There’s no single roadmap for succession success. Some organizations are just beginning. Others are refining systems already in motion.

The key is remembering that process matters but people unlock potential.

Start with one small step. One conversation. One development plan. Progress compounds, and momentum builds. Succession planning is not about replacing today’s leaders; it’s about investing in who your people are becoming.

That’s how you future-proof your business in the Silver Tsunami era—one percent at a time.

Future-Proofing Your Business in the Silver Tsunami Era