"Gaining a true understanding of who your top talent is and what your most critical roles are is a challenging task. Executives often use hierarchy, relationships, or intuition to make these determinations. They assume (incorrectly, as we will explain) that the most critical roles are always within the “top team” rather than three, or even four, layers below the top. In fact, critical positions and critical people can be found throughout an organization."
Source: Barriere, M., Owens, M., & Pobereskin, S. (2018). Linking talent to value. McKinsey Quarterly. Read more here.