Listening to The Beatles song When I’m 64 from Cirque du Soleil’s LOVE soundtrack brings to mind one of the most sobering demographic details in the war for talent: the huge wave of baby boomers heading for retirement.

The facts have been out there for a long time. Large US companies may lose 40 percent or more of their top-level talent by 2010; nearly 77 million workers will soon be eligible for retirement. Yet it seems the business community’s focus remains on the travails of replacing CEOs, as evident in articles such as No More Bench Strength. The reality is the baby boomer leadership vacuum extends much deeper in organizations.

Ernst & Young’s 2007 Aging U.S. Workforce Survey of Fortune 1000 HR executives offers these contradictory statistics:

• 62% say retirements would cause talent gaps or brain drain.
• 41% are concerned about middle management brain drain.
• 75% of those using succession planning monitor only senior management.

The lack of comprehensive succession planning in companies is one of the most concerning talent issues today. Succession planning should be a pervasive practice throughout organizations, not reserved for senior management.

The rash of recent CEO departures elevates a high profile subset of succession situations. But the issue of organizational bench strength is not all about the team manager on the field. Winning organizations develop succession plans for the whole team from the pitching staff to the reserve outfielders based on performance metrics.

Notably, Watson Wyatt’s 2007 HR Technology Trends study of 182 large companies found that a third of them plan to adopt new technology solutions for succession planning in the next two years. Maybe that’s a hint of Good Day Sunshine.