The Truth about Talent: A guide to building a dynamic workforce, realizing potential and helping leaders succeed

Key themes in the book are: 1. The need to revaluate how people contribute and create value in today's economy – it is about knowledge, innovation and relationships today rather than executive potential tomorrow. 2. Challenging the conventional wisdom that talent refers to a 'special few' rather than the 'vital many'. Perhaps we don't have enough because we keep looking in the wrong places and doing the wrong things? 3. Conditions facing organizations are tough and competitive and markets are turbulent. To withstand this, we need to build talented organizations and talented individuals. 4. Interdependence between people within and across organizations is critical. The way that each individual relies on each other and how talent is realised through social and team ties makes a decisive, defining difference. 5. Individuals control when and who their potential is shared with. The idea that an organization can manage talent and potential is an outdated conceit. 6. The nature of work itself matters hugely. The extent to which it is stimulating and engaging – and how people can make the connection with what they do and the wider difference it makes – is vital. 7. The way talent is generated is affected by the whole 'ecology' of an organization – its sense of purpose, rituals, the behaviour of its leaders, how it hires and how it fires people all influence the way talent is generated.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1 Recognizing the talent ‘doom loop’ 3 About our research 6 Seven key insights 6 How this book is organized 7 1 We Are All Talent Now 13 What we mean by talent 19 Talent ecology and the truth about talent 20 The truth about talent 24 We are all talent now 27 Talent is abundant and diverse 27 The talented are those who generate value, not merely those who can get to the top 27 Potential is discretionary 27 Growing and engaging talent is at the core of leadership 28 HR must reinvent itself to deliver practices for a ‘workforce of one’ 28 Talented people are attracted to talented places 28 2 A New Way of Thinking About Talent 31 How organizations think about talent 31 What we mean by talent 32 How talent management is changing 34 A fragmented, fluctuating supply of labour 36 From the credit crunch to the capability crunch 37 Connected consumption 38 Where we are today: the problem with current views of ‘talent’ in organizations 39 The belief that the future can be managed: from succession to scenario planning 40 The belief that we can spot our future leaders today (and manage their careers) 42 The march of the ‘high potentials’ 42 Potential for what? 44 Being insightful 45 Moving beyond the usual suspects ... 47 The rise of discretionary potential 49 A more tangible view of talent 50 How do you make a difference? 52 Leadership reflections 52 3 Talent Diversity: You Need to Believe It to See It 55 The link between talent and diversity 55 Meritocracy and diversity – sources of talent 56 Boiled frogs and Chilean potatoes ... why diversity is vital 58 Diversity – the best way to future-proof your business and avoid homogeneity 60 A new war for talent 63 Practical actions that will begin making a difference 64 Leadership reflections 66 4 Strategy – Beginning With the End in Mind 69 Strategy – the first priority 71 Future thinking and scenarios 72 Why future thinking and scenarios are valuable 72 Learning from the past, preparing for the future 76 Checklist: using scenario thinking 77 Developing strategy 80 The essence of successful strategies 80 Checklist: developing your strategy 82 Implementing strategy 83 Communicating strategy 84 HR strategy at work 85 Strategic tools for HR 86 1. Devising the right people strategy 87 2. Designing and refining the organization’s structure and focus 87 3. Influencing and enhancing the culture and environment 87 4. Developing future leaders 88 5. Understanding critical capabilities 88 6. Managing performance and reward 88 7. Involving people and increasing satisfaction 89 8. Learning and managing knowledge 89 9. Staying focused, flexible and managing HR services 89 Leadership reflections 90 5 Hire and Wire: Developing Your Organization’s Talent Ecology 93 Finding and nurturing talent 93 Managing your talent ecology 95 The impact of the external market 96 The pivotal link with strategy 96 Talent – a valuable Trojan horse 97 Talent loves talented company 98 The forgotten role of structure 100 From structure chart to social capital 101 The importance of networks 103 The nature of talented teams 104 Adopting new habits 105 How culture can make or break a talent strategy 106 Digging big holes 107 The revenge of the bell curve 109 Cultures that attract talent 110 Developing the talent ecology 113 Aiming for a ‘fly wheel’ effect 114 Leadership reflections 114 6 Getting Personal: The Workforce of One 117 Bringing your talents to work 117 Life just got personal – the trend to mass customization 118 The rise of the employer brand 119 The value of segmentation 120 Understanding memetics 122 Segmenting talent 124 Techniques for rating performance 124 Using employee data 125 Getting beneath the Employee Value Proposition 126 Leadership reflections 128 7 Engaging With Talent 131 Employee engagement: what it is and why it matters 131 The benefits of engagement 132 What affects employee engagement? 133 Three-factor theory 136 Engagement and the three factors 138 Checklist: connecting employee enthusiasm with business success 139 The rule of 150: Gore Associates 145 Sears and the service-profit chain 147 Creating a climate for engagement 148 Understanding what doesn’t work 149 Getting people engaged 149 Leadership reflections 151 8 The Meaning of Work 155 The meaning of work 155 The importance of meaningful work 159 People – more than ‘human resources’ 159 Making work more meaningful 160 Leadership refl ections 162 9 Leading for Talent 165 The challenges of 21st century leadership 166 Globalization, interconnectedness and interdependence 168 Increasing complexity 170 The challenge of sustainable growth 171 The need for innovation 172 Changing attitudes, rising expectations 173 Organizations are changing 176 Knowledge matters 177 A new approach to leadership 178 The business case 179 People are the answer (specifically, their head, heart and guts) 180 Understanding your leadership style 181 Understanding different leadership styles 182 Taking leadership seriously 184 Leadership reflections 188 10 Techniques for Realizing Talent in Your Whole Workforce 191 Leading with your heart 192 Balance the needs of individuals and the business 193 Know yourself and connect emotionally to others 193 Stay self-aware 194 Develop empathy 195 Remain in control 196 Use different styles of working 196 Develop emotional intelligence (EQ) 198 Inspire trust 199 Use visioning to increase collaboration and understanding 215 Develop creativity and innovation 217 Build a diverse team and empathic approach 218 Using intellect, intelligence and insight 219 Rethinking 219 Reframing 220 Focusing on results and getting things done 221 Developing and articulating a point of view 222 Courageous leadership 223 Taking risks with incomplete data 223 Balancing risk and reward 224 Acting with unyielding integrity 224 Communicating 225 Empowering people 227 Coaching and developing talent 229 Conclusion: Creating a Talent Flywheel 235 See talent in context 237 Treat everyone as talent 238 Focus on value creation 238 Make work personal 239 Build everyone’s capability 239 Take leadership seriously 240 Tend your talent ecology 240 Appendix: Researching the Truth About Talent 243 Research acknowledgements 245 Index 249

About the Author :
Jacqueline Davies is a respected HR leader with 18 years' experience in strategic human resource management. She has led the global talent agendas in two FTSE top 10 companies and driven executive integration programmes for two of the largest acquisitions in corporate history. Jacqueline is a recognised thought leader in how companies can deploy talent strategies to achieve commercial advantage. Jacqueline is a non-executive director of two charities and has recently been appointed to the Advisory Board on Leadership Ethics at the Bristol Business School. She can be contacted at truthabouttalent@btinternet.com. Jeremy Kourdi is a writer and executive coach. His experience includes commercial leadership, writing and coaching expertise gained with leading brands. During his career he has worked in Europe, North America and the Middle East with a range of organizations including HSBC, Pearson, London Business School, IMD and he was Senior Vice-President with The Economist Group. For further information visit www.LeadershipExpertise.com.

Review :
"[The authors] take a robust and critical view of the effectiveness of talent management in large organisations." (Developing Leaders, October 2010) "... offers some very interesting ideas about breaking out of the old talent scenario... a most stimulating read." (Business Executive, November 2010)