All leaders can agree that change – and the acceptance of change – is fundamental to growth; however, only a handful of financial institutions embrace change as part of their overall growth strategy. While most organizations know leadership succession planning is essential and intersects directly with long-term sustainability, few do it well.

In this inaugural episode of ElevateTALKS, business growth, sales and leadership expert Meridith Elliott Powell joins host Michael Delucchi to discuss succession planning, ways to develop a change mindset and explore the current state of talent development in the banking industry.

With several business and leadership books to her credit, Meridith has recently turned her author’s hand towards succession planning. From this lens, Meridith shares with the ElevateTALKS audience stories of the small, medium, and large businesses she has worked closely with and offers solid suggestions as to what effective succession planning entails. Listen to Meridith discuss some of the nuances for family-owned institutions, how emotion is often the biggest roadblock to successful succession planning, strategies for strong leaders to retain their best talent, and how young leaders can proactively implement themselves into their banks’ long-term plans.