The War for Talent

Rating:
Summary: A Guidebook for Anyone Who Runs a Company
Review: As Founder and CEO of a marketing communications firm, I'm always looking for great talent. Good talent is what distinguishes us from our competitors. If you're looking for ways to nurture and attract talent, this is a great book. I've read several books on this topic and, most recently, read Jack Welch's book . I was fascinated by the parallels and contrasts between the two books. A worthwhile read.

Rating:
Summary: A Guidebook for Anyone Who Runs a Company
Review: As Founder and CEO of a marketing communications firm, I'm always looking for great talent. Good talent is what distinguishes us from our competitors. If you're looking for ways to nurture and attract talent, this is a great book. I've read several books on this topic and, most recently, read Jack Welch's book . I was fascinated by the parallels and contrasts between the two books. A worthwhile read.

Rating:
Summary: Good talent also requires good systems
Review: Based on quantitative surveys, this study identifies that few US companies are good at recruiting, retaining and developing talented people and that excellent performance produces qualitatively and quantitatively superior results. The key cause of success is a mindset among leaders that gives high priority to excellence across all aspects of building talent. The advice provided for achieving excellence with talented individuals is well set out and, not surprisingly, mostly obvious. What needs explanation is why so few leaders give real attention to their stock of talent. The book also tends to assume that talented individuals produce good results, with out looking at the system within which they work.

Rating:
Summary: A worthwhile read
Review: Easy reading, entertaining, interesting and informative. Light on details but a very good general overview of the topic.

Conceptually excellent. The value is in how you implement the recommendations - which is where you will find this book wanting.

If you get nothing else out of this book, the quote from Dee Hock (founder of Visa) will make it worth buying:

"Hire and promote first on the basis of integrity; second motivation; third capacity; fourth understanding; fifth knowledge; and last and least, experience.

Without integrity, motivation is dangerous; without motivation, capacity is impotent; without capacity, understanding is limited; without understanding, knowledge is meaningless; without knowledge, experience is blind."

Rating:
Summary: An outstanding, although not original, look at talent
Review: I recommend this book highly for anyone who works in or owns a business. The information contained here is not original in concept, as many of the concepts can be found in (not surprisingly) successful and well know businesses.

The basic premise of this book is that the ability to attract, retain and engage the best talent available will give your business a competitive edge in the marketplace. Looking at these components in the "war for talent" the authors outline several strategies:

The first issue is that in order to be able to focus on talent, companies must "embrace a talent mindset" and realize that in this age of intellectual capital, getting the top talented people to work for you and your customers will make the difference in your results. "Embracing a talent mindset" means not just awareness of the importance of great people, but investing in development, setting high performance standards, and getting actively involved in people related decisions. In order to do this, companies must look closely at "EVP" or an "Employee Value Proposition" approach to keep top talent engaged in exciting work and value added opportunities.

The authors also discuss several different approaches to recruiting and identifying the key talent required for your business. In my experience, getting better talent up front makes all the subsequent processes better: training, communication, innovation, and of course business results.

The book also discusses a concept made famous by GE - differentiating performance and performers. While it sometimes feels like business Darwinism, differentiating your top performers and rewarding and investing in them accordingly will bring about better results than trying to raise the poorer performers up a level.

Overall, a great summary of the challenges and opportunities in this "war for talent" businesses are facing everyday.

Rating:
Summary: A powerful tool for leaders across organizations.
Review: In a market characterized by uncertainty and instability, one thing holds true for all organizations: building strong talent is crucial to success. "The War for Talent" delivers a powerful argument for why this is the case, illustrating the need for leaders to adopt a "talent mindset" and develop a strategic approach to talent management. Executives and managers will find this book a valuable guide that lays out the steps required to attract, develop, excite and retain highly talented employees.

McKinsey & Company consultants Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones and Beth Axelrod translate five years of in-depth research and analysis into a clear perspective on how to develop a corporation's greatest asset - its people. The authors artfully weave examples of success stories from such companies as Amgen, GE, The Home Depot and Enron into a comprehensive framework for addressing long-term talent management. Their approach continually challenges the reader to assess his or her own organization and to take action. Leaders from all levels of organizations will gain practical knowledge and an insightful roadmap for winning the war for talent.

Rating:
Summary: A powerful tool for leaders across organizations.
Review: In a market characterized by uncertainty and instability, one thing holds true for all organizations: building strong talent is crucial to success. "The War for Talent" delivers a powerful argument for why this is the case, illustrating the need for leaders to adopt a "talent mindset" and develop a strategic approach to talent management. Executives and managers will find this book a valuable guide that lays out the steps required to attract, develop, excite and retain highly talented employees.

McKinsey & Company consultants Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones and Beth Axelrod translate five years of in-depth research and analysis into a clear perspective on how to develop a corporation's greatest asset - its people. The authors artfully weave examples of success stories from such companies as Amgen, GE, The Home Depot and Enron into a comprehensive framework for addressing long-term talent management. Their approach continually challenges the reader to assess his or her own organization and to take action. Leaders from all levels of organizations will gain practical knowledge and an insightful roadmap for winning the war for talent.

Rating:
Summary: A powerful tool for leaders across organizations.
Review: In a market characterized by uncertainty and instability, one thing holds true for all organizations: building strong talent is crucial to success. "The War for Talent" delivers a powerful argument for why this is the case, illustrating the need for leaders to adopt a "talent mindset" and develop a strategic approach to talent management. Executives and managers will find this book a valuable guide that lays out the steps required to attract, develop, excite and retain highly talented employees.

McKinsey & Company consultants Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones and Beth Axelrod translate five years of in-depth research and analysis into a clear perspective on how to develop a corporation's greatest asset - its people. The authors artfully weave examples of success stories from such companies as Amgen, GE, The Home Depot and Enron into a comprehensive framework for addressing long-term talent management. Their approach continually challenges the reader to assess his or her own organization and to take action. Leaders from all levels of organizations will gain practical knowledge and an insightful roadmap for winning the war for talent.

Rating:
Summary: THE WAR FOR TALENT
Review: The authors have masterfully presented the timely topic of "human talent". How to find it, develop it, motivate it, keep it and most of all, gain competitive advantage by it. Backed by well-conceived and well-presented research, with interesting and useful examples, this book is a very compelling read. A true blueprint for action!

Rating:
Summary: The Talent Myth
Review: The New Yorker (July 22, 2002) had an article that referred to "The War for Talent" that summed up what I felt after finishing the book (I paraphrase): The book largely amounts to an argument for indulging A employees, fawning over them, and "allowing them to find out what they like most to be doing." Malcolm Gladwell's article really articulated my feeling about Enron, my former company and how management talked about encouraging risk and allowing "A talents" to be the dynamic driving force WITH little regard to organizational structure or goals. The resulting chaos of having dozens of self-proclaimed geniuses pursuing their objectives, while often hidden from outsiders, makes me very wary of some consultant's pet theory that ignores divisions duplicating efforts, repeating mistakes, raiding each others "talent" employees, low office morale and intense political jockeying for advancement (which, ironically, was independent of performance). This book is another tiresome example of tired old "hero" worship; it makes me regret ever having gone to b-school. We MBAs are really screwing things up.