By Anne Field - April 2007 Issue

Excerpt

If You're a Hi-Potential Yourself

You're a rising star.  In the not-too-distant future, you're going to be in demand, as older executives reach retirement age and start to leave the company.  To help make yourself ready when you're called:

• Discuss your future with your boss.  Ask your manager what she thinks your next steps should be.  What skills do you need to develop?  What preparations should you be making for the next assignment likely to come your way?  Susan Battley, CEO of Stony Brook, N.Y.-based Battley Performance COnsulting, worked witha thirty-something vice president in a consumer products company who did just that at his annual performance review.  His boss let him know that the next assignment wuld be a make-or-break move and would likely require relocation to the Middle East.  The executive asked to enroll in workshops on cross-cultural issues and started preparing his family for the possibility that they'd move.  When he was assigned to a post in the Middle East a year later, he and his family were ready.