Issue 8: Would Your Rising Stars Choose You?

Identifying your future talent is one thing. Giving them enough reasons to build their future with you is another.

The Boardroom Question

Most organisations can identify at least some of their rising stars.

They’re the people who stand out.

They bring ideas. They take on responsibility. They learn quickly. Other people notice them. And when an opportunity arises, they’re often among the first names mentioned.

Businesses quite rightly ask:

Who are our high-potential people?

How can we develop them?

Who could take on greater responsibility?

Who might become one of our future leaders?

But perhaps there’s another question organisations should be asking:

Why should those people choose to build their careers with us?

Because recognising talent doesn’t guarantee you’ll keep it.

Rising Stars Are Going Somewhere

The very qualities that make someone valuable to your organisation are often the same qualities that make them attractive to someone else.

Ambition. Curiosity. Energy. Commercial instinct. Creativity. An ability to build relationships or make things happen.

Talented people rarely stand still for long.

That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re constantly looking for another job. But they are likely to be thinking about where their career is going, what they’re learning and whether their current organisation can continue to offer them the opportunities they want.

And that’s why retaining rising talent isn’t simply about persuading people not to leave.

It’s about giving them compelling reasons to stay.

Career Progression Doesn’t Always Mean Promotion

It’s easy to assume ambitious people want the next job title as quickly as possible.

Increasingly, the picture appears more nuanced.

Deloitte’s 2026 Gen Z and Millennial Survey found that only 25% of Gen Z respondents and 21% of millennials preferred rapid career progression through frequent promotions. Many favoured gradual development or were willing to make lateral moves to gain experience that would support their longer-term careers. Deloitte

That’s an important distinction.

Development can mean leading a new project, gaining exposure to another function, managing a larger team, working internationally, taking responsibility for an unfamiliar area or having greater access to senior decision-making.

Sometimes the opportunity someone needs isn’t up.

It’s across, broader or simply different.

Are Your Best People Still Learning?

One of the clearest risks with talented people is allowing them to become too comfortable.

They perform well, so they’re left alone.

They’re reliable, so they’re given more of the same.

They’re indispensable in their existing position, so moving them creates a problem.

And gradually, the very person the organisation most wants to retain begins to feel they’re no longer developing.

This creates a paradox.

Sometimes businesses hold their best people back precisely because they’re so good at what they already do.

But if someone can’t see their next opportunity inside your organisation, they may eventually find it somewhere else.

The CIPD’s guidance on learning and development highlights the connection between effective development, talent strategy, employee retention and employer brand. CIPD

Development therefore shouldn’t begin when someone asks, “What’s next for me?”

By then, they may already have started wondering whether the answer lies elsewhere.

Your Best People Are Comparing Futures

Reward matters.

Of course it does.

Organisations need to understand whether salaries and benefits remain competitive, particularly for people with skills that are in demand.

But talented people aren’t only comparing salaries.

They’re comparing futures.

• Where will I learn most?
• Where will I be given responsibility?
• Who will invest in me?
• Where will my ideas be heard?
• Who can I learn from?
• Will I still be progressing here in two years’ time?

Current research reinforces this. Deloitte’s global research found that learning and development remains an important factor in why younger employees choose an employer, alongside progression, financial security, meaningful work and wellbeing. Deloitte

That makes career development much more than an HR initiative.

It’s part of an organisation’s ability to compete for talent.

Publishing: Celebrating the Industry’s Rising Stars

Publishing has a particularly visible example of this.

Each year, The Bookseller’s Rising Stars recognises up-and-coming talent across the UK book trade. The 2026 list marked the 16th year of the initiative and celebrated individuals characterised by talent, ambition and a desire to make their mark on the industry. The Bookseller

Look back across previous years and many of those recognised have subsequently progressed into increasingly influential positions across publishing.

And that raises an interesting question for publishing businesses.

It’s wonderful when someone within your organisation is recognised as a rising star.

But what happens next?

Recognition can increase someone’s confidence, profile and external visibility.

Other businesses may start noticing them too.

The challenge for employers is therefore not simply to celebrate emerging talent, but to make sure those individuals can continue to see an exciting future within their own organisation.

Rising stars, by definition, are going somewhere. The question is whether they’ll be rising with you — or somewhere else.

Financial Services: Creating Room to Grow

The same principle applies within Financial Services, particularly where high-performing people are building specialist expertise.

An emerging leader in finance, risk, compliance, actuarial, operations or transformation may have several possible career paths.

Their next move may not necessarily be into their manager’s job.

They might want broader commercial exposure, responsibility for a transformation programme, experience in another market or the opportunity to lead a different type of team.

Organisations that understand those ambitions early have more options.

• Rather than waiting until someone resigns and making a counteroffer, they can have meaningful conversations about development while there is still time to act.

Don’t Wait for the Resignation Conversation

One of the worst times to discover what somebody wanted from their career is during their resignation meeting.

Yet it happens.

Suddenly the conversations that could have happened months earlier begin.

• Would a promotion make a difference?
• More money?
• A bigger remit?
• A different reporting line?
• Another opportunity internally?

By that point, the individual may already have mentally left.

Retention shouldn’t begin when someone receives an external offer.

It should begin much earlier, with regular conversations about ambition, development and what someone wants their career to become.

Make Your Rising Stars Visible

There’s another potential problem.

Does the board actually know who the organisation’s rising stars are?

Not just the people immediately below the executive team.

• What about two or three levels further down?
• Who is gaining a reputation internally?
• Who consistently delivers?
• Who influences others without having the most senior title?
• Who has developed unusually quickly?
• Who brings ideas that challenge established thinking?
• Who would be difficult to replace?

Future talent shouldn’t only be visible to someone’s immediate manager.

Creating appropriate exposure to senior leaders — through projects, presentations, mentoring, cross-functional work or broader responsibilities — can help both the individual and the organisation understand their potential.

Don’t Assume Everyone Wants the Same Future

There is also a danger in deciding what somebody’s career should look like for them.

Not every talented person wants to manage a large team.

Not every rising star wants a seat around the boardroom table.

And not everyone defines progress through job titles.

For some, development might mean becoming a recognised specialist.

For others, greater autonomy, flexibility, international experience or more interesting work may matter more.

That’s why career conversations need to start with curiosity rather than assumptions.

What does progress look like to you?

It can be a surprisingly powerful question.

Five Questions for Your Next Leadership Meeting

1. Who are the rising stars in our organisation — including those several levels below the senior team?
2. Do we know what they actually want from their careers?
3. Are they still being stretched, challenged and given opportunities to learn?
4. Could being excellent in their current role actually be preventing them from progressing?
5. If they were choosing an employer again today, what would make them choose us?

The answers might tell you more about your future talent pipeline than a conventional succession chart.

Key Takeaways

Identifying rising talent is only the beginning.

High-performing people need continued opportunities to learn and develop.

Progression doesn’t always mean promotion; broader experience and lateral moves can be equally valuable.

Don’t allow someone’s value in their current position to become a reason for holding them there.

Understand what talented individuals want rather than assuming everyone has the same career ambitions.

Make emerging talent visible beyond their immediate team.

And don’t wait until someone resigns to start talking about their future.

The Boardroom Question

If your rising stars were choosing their employer again today, would they still choose you?

At Mosaic Search & Selection, we’ve spent more than 25 years talking to talented people about their careers.

One thing those conversations continually reinforce is that career decisions are rarely about one thing alone.

Opportunity, development, culture, leadership, flexibility, reward and the chance to do interesting and meaningful work can all influence whether somebody stays — or starts to wonder what else might be possible.

For organisations, understanding those motivations before somebody decides to leave can be just as important as finding their replacement afterwards.

Because your future leaders may already be working for you.

The challenge is giving them enough reasons to build their future with you.