Succession planning and management and leadership development figure prominently on the agenda of many top managers. Yet, despite senior management interest, the task often falls to human resource management (HRM) and workplace learning and performance (WLP) professionals to spearhead and coordinate efforts to establish and operate planned succession programs and avert succession crises. In that way, they fill an important, proactive role demanded of them by top managers, and they ensure that SP&M issues are not lost in the shuffle of fighting daily fires.