The Truth about Talent

A guide to building a dynamic workforce, realizing potential and helping leaders succeed

Jacqueline Davies, Jeremy Kourdi

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780470748824
• eBook ISBN: 9780470662373
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Gestione delle risorse umane
• Index: Business

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 The idea that an organization can manage talent and potential is an outdated conceit.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.

Chapter 1

We Are All Talent Now

Biologists often talk about the ‘ecology’ of an organism: the tallest oak in the forest is not the tallest just because it grew from the hardiest acorn: it is the tallest also because no others blocked its sunlight, the soil around it was deep and rich, no rabbit chewed through its bark as a sapling, and no lumberjack cut it down before it matured.

Malcolm Gladwell Outliers (Little, Brown and Company 2008)

What is talent and how is it best viewed? This chapter explains about talent and why we believe talent cannot be managed. It introduces the main issues, in particular, the belief that the context in which talent operates is as important as the individual, and the fact that engaging the whole workforce is not simply one leadership task among many, it is leadership. Crucially, it also explains why elite approaches to talent management don’t work, and why successful businesses need to get better at realizing the potential of different types of talent across the workforce.

In the summer of 1965 Gary Flandro was a summer intern with the NASA space agency. At that time, NASA was in the middle of the first Mariner missions to Mars and Flandro was given the routine and supposedly far less interesting task of calculating, in detail, the movement and relative positions of the planets and the best time to launch a probe for a future expedition to Jupiter.

Gary Flandro approached the task carefully and enthusiastically. He understood that the gravitational field of one planet could slingshot a probe onto another target at even greater speed, and he calculated when the four largest planets in the solar system (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) would be on the same side of the sun, in the same proximity. He then calculated that a specific timing for a mission to Jupiter would, because of their proximity, also enable the probe to ‘slingshot’ using the orbit of one of the four outer planets to visit the next and continue its journey. Finally, Gary Flandro worked out that only once every 175 years were the four planets close enough to make such a mission viable.

This was a major breakthrough in space exploration: Flandro, a Masters student on a summer internship, had discovered what has become known as the multi-planet ‘Grand Tour’ mission: a feat that uses gravity to enable a space craft (ultimately the Voyager) to explore the four major outer planets of the solar system. This led NASA to launch the enormously successful Pioneer and Voyager space probes that during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s dramatically increased our understanding of the solar system. Voyager is now the most distant and far travelled object in human history and Gary Flandro’s journey is also interesting. For many years, he was a professor of space exploration at the University of Tennessee and he has been named by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics among 30 of the world’s finest contributors to the field of aeronautics. Not bad for a young student given a routine task to complete!

Another American of the same generation as Gary Flandro, Robert Woodward, was born in March 1943 in Illinois. He studied history and English literature at Yale University, receiving his BA degree in 1965 before beginning a five-year tour of duty in the US Navy. After being discharged as a lieutenant in August 1970 he considered attending law school but applied instead for a job as a reporter with the Washington Post. He was given a two-week trial but was not hired because of his lack of journalistic experience. After a year at the Montgomery Sentinel, a weekly newspaper in the Washington DC area, he was hired as a Post reporter in September, 1971. While he was at the Washington Post Bob Woodward was partnered with another journalist, Carl Bernstein, who had attended the University of Maryland but did not graduate. Together, these two young, relatively inexperienced journalists doggedly pursued an investigation that became the Watergate scandal, eventually resulting in the first resignation by an American president in US history when Richard Nixon resigned the presidency in August 1974.

In his 1995 memoir A Good Life, former executive editor of the Washington Post Ben Bradlee singled out Bob Woodward in the foreword, commenting that he could not overestimate the contributions made by Bob Woodward, a reporter that Bradlee viewed as the best of his generation and the best he’d ever seen. Both Woodward and Bernstein have maintained their position at the top of their profession (and, thankfully, subsequent US presidents seem to have raised their game as well).

So, what do these stories of Gary Flandro, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein have to do with our understanding of talent management? Several facts are quite obvious while others require a little more thought.

First, talent requires effort. It can be tempting to assume that the most talented people can do no wrong: their success seems almost preordained and all they need to do is simply ‘show up’. This is not true. Gary Flandro had already graduated high school, obtained his undergraduate and master’s degrees and was well on his way to obtaining his PhD. He was used to hard work and study and that, presumably, was why NASA hired him in the first place. Similarly, Woodward and Bernstein understood that their profession requires patient, diligent and sometimes tedious effort. All three worked hard. In fact, it may be misleading to call it work at all. What they did became a passion, almost certainly they were thinking constantly about the issues they faced, even when they were away from their organizations. Talent requires energy if it is to develop and flourish. Fortunately for these individuals (and the rest of us) they were able to find an area of activity – a genuine passion - that would drive them on and enable them to excel. (In his fascinating book Outliers the writer Malcolm Gladwell makes a similar point, providing evidence for his claim that 10,000 hours is the time required to become truly successful at a task.)

The next point about talent is that it comes from anywhere, everywhere, and can emerge at any time. For example, the administrators at NASA who hired Gary Flandro clearly believed they were getting the services of a bright college student, but they probably did not realize they were hiring one of the greatest contributors to the field of aeronautics. Similarly, Harry Rosenfeld, the Washington Post’s metropolitan editor who released Bob Woodward after a two-week trial in 1970, did not realize that the man with no journalistic experience who he had just let go would, within four years, have returned to the Washington Post and conduct an investigation leading, ultimately, to the resignation of a sitting US President.

This point - that talent comes from anywhere, everywhere, and can emerge at any time - is especially significant today, in the first decades of the twenty-first century. For the first 30 years of our lives we witnessed a world recovering from the shocks of the twentieth century. In particular, there was a Cold War, apartheid, atrocious governance, horrendous poverty in that part of the globe known as the Third World, and economic instability in the First and Second Worlds. Of course, there were many amazing successes too, especially in the fields of science and technology, but that does not obscure the fact that the late twentieth century saw huge disparities in income and opportunity around the world.

This situation now is changing. Countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China (the ‘BRIC’ countries) have been developing fast, together with other populous countries dubbed the N11 (the ‘Next 11’ fast-developing countries after BRIC are: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, The Philippines, South Korea, Turkey, and Vietnam; the terms ‘BRIC’ and ‘N11’ were coined by the investment bank Goldman Sachs). Moreover, the rates of economic growth are significant and sustained. For example, between 1980 and 2006 China’s economy grew by an incredible 9% each year. This has helped to lift millions of people out of poverty and into an increasingly globalizing economy. Even if these fast developing countries stumble economically or politically at some point in the future, much as the Western democracies did in the first half of the twentieth century, their growth, long-term prosperity and influence now seems assured, at least during the twenty-first century. The implications of this are far reaching and they are especially significant for organizations. For example, it is a simple, sobering fact to consider that the top 5% of China’s student population is significantly larger than the United Kingdom’s entire student population.

The stories from NASA and the Washington Post also highlight the profound influence exerted by leaders and organizational cultures. Clearly, both organizations, NASA and the Washington Post, were exceptional places. Both have suffered huge setbacks and doubtless made major mistakes but, undeniably, they have come to be seen as organizations defined by the talent and character of their people and, perhaps most significantly of all, the ability to achieve their goals. Even today, the Washington Post is regarded as one of the world’s great newspapers, while NASA still has the ability to instil excitement, awe and interest. Of course, this is in part a reflection of what they do and what they have done in the past, but, crucially, it also suggests that a whole range of leadership issues are at play when organizations enable their most talented people to develop their potential and succeed. This includes coaching and providing mutual support, team working and collaboration, innovating, building relationships and being able to develop your skills. Of course, that personal success invariably drives the organization’s success, but the organization or, more specifically, the team, is driving the individual.

For example, in February 1676 Isaac Newton, the renowned British scientist, wrote to Robert Hooke, another successful scientist with whom Newton was in dispute over optical discoveries, remarking: ‘If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants’. Historians tend not to believe that this was a statement of self-effacing modesty from Newton (surely one of history’s greatest ever scientists); the prevailing view is that this was instead a sarcastic attack on the curmudgeonly Hooke who, although immensely successful in his own right, was also short and hunchbacked. Whatever the true sentiment may have been behind Newton’s remark, the idea has lasted throughout mathematics and science that progress is made incrementally and interdependently, by methodically building on the discoveries and insights of others. So it is with many issues in business including the need for talented people to be able to learn from what is around them and what has gone before.

Another thought that comes to mind when one reflects on the diverse stories of Flandro, Woodward and Bernstein is that these were, despite their achievements, relatively ordinary people. By their own admission these were normal individuals (at least, compared to their peers), rather than the greatest geniuses in history. Gary Flandro may have gone on to become a rocket scientist but in 1965 he was a student intern. By this we mean that it would probably not have been apparent to NASA that a summer intern would make a major contribution to the exploration of the outer planets! Similarly, no one realized that Woodward and Bernstein’s investigation into a Washington DC burglary at the Watergate complex would have such far-reaching consequences. Moreover, it almost certainly never occurred to the individuals involved. A journalist barely out of his 20s with less than four years professional experience investigated a crime (and the high-level cover-up of that crime) bringing down a president. A student’s calculations during a summer internship program were integral to the successful exploration of the outer planets. Amazing though these stories are, one suspects that most successful organizations contain many impressive but perhaps less eye-catching examples of people achieving more, and going further, than they had ever thought possible.

Crucially, it is the environment in which talented people operate that allows them to develop their potential and succeed: the organization gives them access, opportunity and encouragement.

This is one of the most fascinating things about talent: most of us have it, or, more precisely, we are each more talented than we give ourselves credit for. The notion that we can each achieve more than we might think we call discretionary potential and it is one of the main themes of this book. The challenge for leaders and organizations is to find the right people and then help them to go even further than even they might have thought possible. That sounds to us like a great challenge and the meaning of great leadership.

Another insight that comes to mind when one considers the phenomena of distinctively talented employees is the fact that they always seem to display several notable characteristics. In particular, these include initiative, flexibility and drive. They display a relentless desire to find things out, to get things done and, above all, to make progress. They want to achieve things and even more than that they want their work to have meaning. These qualities of initiative, drive and a desire for work to have meaning have several vital implications and results. For example, they lead to passion, enthusiasm and inquisitiveness. They also propel talented employees to seek out, both consciously and, one suspects, subconsciously, new opportunities. Talented people tend to find themselves in the right place at the right time more often than other people, and that is because they are looking for opportunities, they gravitate towards them, and opportunities also come looking for them. In other words, they make their own luck.

Crucially, it is the environment in which people operate that allows them to realize their talent and succeed; who they work with, the projects they work on and how they are led. And given the shortfall in skills in today’s labour market it is the task of today’s leader to create an environment where the latent talents in the whole workforce can be realized.

What we mean by talent

So, what do we actually mean by ‘talent’? It is a valuable word that could become discredited with over-use or if it is used too widely without being clear about its meaning. Today, for example, we can see that ‘talent’ may mean someone who is physically appealing, or a Star, or a prima donna, or a capable all-rounder, or simply someone who has a specific skill. The danger is that if the term is over-used and discredited then the concepts behind it are similarly disparaged or dismissed. In business, language really does matter. For that reason we have tried to provide a very clear definition of talent: one that is grounded in business reality.

We like the conventional view that talent is a special ability or a capacity for achievement but that definition is understandably broad. When it comes to organizations and the challenges of leadership, we believe that a talented person is anyone who adds value to an enterprise or activity. Or, to put it another way, to be considered ‘talent’ you have to add value to something; improving it in some way.

This is one reason why talent matters so much: because it lies at the heart of improvement, innovation, competitiveness, customer service and progress. In the twenty-first century it is no longer enough simply to focus on a few ‘high potential’ executives, those people who demonstrate a capacity to be effective at senior levels. The twenty-first century has seen a shift towards value that results from: service/product innovation, brand experience and social relationships, and sharper insights from customers, stakeholders and wider communities.

To understand this view of talent further requires the appreciation of a simple economic truth: profitability requires scarcity. If there is an abundant supply of something (such as knowledge) then its price and value will be low. If the supply is scarce then it is more likely to be valuable and generate a profit. This is the law of supply and demand. And what is often at the root of scarcity? Skills and knowledge. For example, in the pharmaceuticals industry if there is a high demand for a product for which you have a patent and no alternative exists, the future is a lucrative one, even if the research and development costs have been substantial. In this way scarce and valuable knowledge can help deliver exceptional profits. Crucially, the source of that knowledge was people - in this case, the researchers and scientists working for the pharma company. It is important to realize, however, that it is not people, potential or talent that are scarce, it is people with the right knowledge and skills. Our organizations make life harder for themselves than they need to by ignoring the necessity for leadership, by focusing only on a chosen few, by failing to help people realize their potential, and by using the many to develop things that are original, insightful and valuable. What we need to be doing, therefore, is closing the gaps in skills. This means upgrading education and also locat...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 - We Are All Talent Now
• Chapter 2 - A New Way of Thinking About Talent
• Chapter 3 - Talent Diversity: You Need to Believe It to See It
• Chapter 4 - Strategy – Beginning With the End in Mind
• Chapter 5 - Hire and Wire: Developing Your Organization’s Talent Ecology
• Chapter 6 - Getting Personal: The Workforce of One
• Chapter 7 - Engaging With Talent
• Chapter 8 - The Meaning of Work
• Chapter 9 - Leading for Talent
• Chapter 10 - Techniques for Realizing Talent in Your Whole Workforce
• Conclusion
• Appendix: Researching the Truth About Talent
• Acknowledgements
• Index