Talent Wins
This book on people management is written by the leaders of McKinsey, Dominic Barton, Korn Ferry, Dennis Carey, and a Professor from Harvard University, Ram Charan, who has challenged the existence of the human resource management function as it has developed since Ulrich’s seminal text ‘Employee Champions’.
The basic premise is quickly and clearly laid out ie people management of any business should be driven by the combination of CEO, CFO and CHRO/HRD.
The strategy of the business and strategy around managing people are inextricably linked and the financial implications of both must be understood. This tripartite approach is privileged over different or larger combinations of an ExCo as the two critical resources available to any CEO are defined as people and money.
Designed for a busy executive to read on a short plane trip the message is delivered as a seven-part plan for:
- Integrating talent and capital
- Making talent drive strategy
- Designing and redesigning the work of the organization
- Scaling up individual talent
- Creating an M&A strategy for talent
- Reinventing the role of HR
- Living the talent agenda
It is a great high-level challenge to business leaders who need to:
- Understand the challenges in the context of their own organisation
- Develop and execute a prioritised plan
For this they will need the support of an enlightened CFO and capable CHRO/HRD.
The beauty of this book is in the speed and simplicity in which its important messages are delivered. It wisely avoids proffering detailed explanations of how policies, processes and procedures should be changed. I am sure much ink will be spilt by others on this.
The only disappointing aspect of the book is that the tone and majority of example cases are from the USA. Maybe a second edition could rectify this.