The program created by Palmer to identify and train future leaders from among J.B. Hunt's 340-person IT team has three parts. First, management aspirants are identified through recommendations and profiled via a battery of evaluations, such as the Myers-Briggs personality test.

Trainees are then assigned an industrial psychologist from outside the company -- their "office linebacker coach," in Palmer's words -- who works with them on personal development issues and assigns homework. The third phase, which is being piloted now, involves mentoring from executives who work in other parts of the company.

As part of the training, managerial candidates also take classes and engage in role-playing scenarios, often in front of actual managers. "When the senior leadership is watching, there is real risk and pressure," Palmer said.

Some companies don't give younger talent many opportunities to rise. For instance, out of the top 200 IT positions at Marriott International Inc., only three turned over in 2004, said Wendell Fox, Marriott's senior vice president of information resources field services in North America.

But that could soon change as the baby boom generation gets set for retirement. At Southern Co., an electric utility in Atlanta, the average age of the 1,000 IT workers is 47, and retirements can start as early as age 55, according to CIO Rebecca Blalock. She developed a two-year leadership program that recently graduated its first class. Three of the 24 graduates have already been promoted into management roles, Blalock said.