From HBR-January: "How Not to Lose the Top Job"

Marshall Goldsmith’s “How Not to Lose the Top Job” (in the January 2009 issue of the HBR) describes how to avoid losing a CEO position, even when you have just been told by the current CEO that you’re a shoe in. Not so fast—warns Goldsmith—the country’s leading executive coach, and the guy who wrote the introduction to my latest book on executive coaching (truth in reviewing here). Marshall tells potential CEO’s (internal candidates) to be sure to tend to six critical stakeholder groups: the current CEO (even if s/he promised you the world), the successor’s peers, your own direct reports, customers (especially influential ones), analysts, shareholders, and, of course, the board of directors. Question: Could this apply any potential internal incumbent leader, not only a CEO?