Seventy-six million baby boomers — people born between 1946 and 1964 — are approaching retirement. Every day, 10,000 of them turn 55, and by 2010, half of those 76 million will be between the ages of 54 and 64, according to Linkage Research and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While the sheer numbers are staggering, a more alarming fact is a significant number of these people populate the ranks of middle managers to senior leaders in American business today. They are the most significant contributors to the brain trusts of organizations. And as they retire, gone are decades’ worth of deep experience, knowledge and business savvy.

Although much media attention has been given to this retirement bubble and its impact on individuals — how will they retire comfortably — the severity of the real crisis has apparently not sunk in. Most organizations still practice business as usual when it comes to succession planning, rather than building solid bench strength to fill those soon-to-be-vacant management and leadership positions.

The gap in knowledge, skills and experience between the baby boomers and Generation X is cavernous. This has to change immediately. First, succession planning should be among every leader’s top five strategic priorities. Two, an objective process is needed to plan for succession, rather than the typical subjective beauty contest that often occurs. Three, organizations need to recognize traditional vertical succession planning is insufficient to address the magnitude of the crisis. The solution is to develop horizontal talent pools companies can draw from to fill any number of vacancies across the organization.

Whose Responsibility Is It?

“The departure of baby boomers from corporations is a 911 emergency waiting to happen,” said Devon Scheef, co-founder of The Learning Caf�, a California-based training company specializing in bridging the generation gap in the workplace. “The first step that must be taken immediately is to identify the ‘talent drain’ (how many leaders will be retiring and when) and the ‘brain drain’ (the critical knowledge that will be leaving with them).