Succession questions followed the leaders of the biggest US banks onto their third-quarter earnings calls last month. On Goldman Sachs’s call on October 13, CEO David Solomon told analysts, “there is no succession transition or timeline underway at Goldman Sachs” (Bloomberg Law). The next day, Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan was asked the same kind of question. According to Benzinga, he said it is the board’s decision and that management’s job is to prepare the talent.

We will not guess what happens at the top of any bank. But the question those calls raised is one every leader in this industry should answer on a smaller scale.

If you were promoted, hired away or simply unavailable next quarter, who could run your team, your clients and your deals?

For most of us, the honest answer is “not sure.” So I went back through our podcast conversations to see how leaders who have built teams think about it. Their answers share a theme. They do not treat succession as an event. They treat it as a daily habit of making themselves less necessary.

John Stamatis, Managing Director and Co-Head of North America at Howden Capital Markets and Advisory, helped grow his team from its first hire to nearly 50 people. When I asked how he coaches vice presidents to take on more responsibility, he started with how he frames his own role.

It is a generous way to lead, and it is also practical. The leader who is trying to be irreplaceable stays stuck in the job. The leader who is building a successor gets to move on. John added that this means pushing people towards client exposure, including independent client-facing situations, not just waiting for opportunities to appear.

Kai Liekefett, Partner at Sidley Austin, leads the firm’s shareholder activism and corporate defense practice. His leadership philosophy is simple: surround yourself with people who challenge you, correct your mistakes, and ultimately become better than you.

Kai knows that remaining a one-man show would limit his ability to scale. Building a successful practice means developing future leaders who can eventually take over.

Succession readiness starts with the leader’s ego. If you cannot picture someone better than you in your seat, you will never build them.

Matt Zimmer, Head of Investment Banking at William Blair, described how he was hired into a firm that promised to support an entrepreneurial approach. He said senior colleagues stayed close when he got ahead of himself and provided air cover. He sees his own job as repeating that for others.

Notice that this is cultural, not just personal. When a whole leadership team holds the same view, succession does not depend on one generous person.

Michael Meyers, Vice Chairman and Head of M&A and Strategic Advisory Services at H.C. Wainwright & Co., said mentoring the next generation is something he enjoys. What he described watching for is a specific transition.

This is where many succession plans stall. A junior who can run a flawless process is not yet a successor. The successor is the person a client will call. That only happens if the senior banker deliberately shares the relationship, not just the workload.

Succession isn't just a question for CEOs approaching retirement. It's relevant at every level of investment banking.

For aspiring leaders, it's about proving you can step up. For established leaders, it's about building a team that can succeed without you.

Don't wait for the title to start leading. If you want to become an MD, start demonstrating that you can operate like one. Take ownership of client relationships, develop junior talent and look for opportunities to make decisions rather than simply execute them.

Make yourself known beyond your execution skills. Being the person who can get any deal over the line makes you valuable. But being the person clients trust, colleagues turn to and senior bankers see as a future leader makes you promotable.

Ask for responsibility, not just feedback. Instead of asking your MD what you need to do to get promoted, ask: "What are you doing today that I could take ownership of tomorrow?" Then demonstrate that you can deliver.

Stop measuring your value by how much depends on you. If every important client relationship, decision and opportunity flows through you, you've built a dependency, not a leadership team.

Give people room to lead before they're fully ready. Bring your future leaders into important client conversations. Let them make decisions, take ownership and occasionally make mistakes. As Matt Zimmer described, your job is to provide the air cover, not take back control.

Ask yourself one uncomfortable question. "If I stepped away tomorrow, who would be ready to take over?" If you can't name someone, what are you doing to change that?

The best leaders don't just leave behind strong businesses. They leave behind people capable of taking those businesses further than they could.

The big banks will work out their succession plans in their own time. But building your successor shouldn't wait until you're ready to leave.

The real test of leadership isn't how much your team depends on you today. It's how well they would succeed without you tomorrow.