CategoryTalent Management

Well, Geoff Colvin certainly thinks so and I agree with him. But first, let me explain what I mean by “talent.”  This is a word that gets thrown around a lot, especially in our field.  When I say “talent is overrated” I’m referring to “talent” as the innate (some would say God-given) ability, granted to us at birth, that confers an advantage over others lacking such ability.  We often hear the word “talent” used in this way when describing musicians, athletes or chess players who achieve what...

One strategy for companies continuing to invest in leadership development  during these tough times is to look for ways to reduce the cost of training. Another strategy, which I consider much smarter and more strategic, is for companies to focus on the overall effectiveness of training.  Yes, training budgets are down 11% from last year, but there is no reason why a smaller budget can’t produce more effective results.  Improving business success from training is a subject my colleague Dr...

When the economy is shrinking and businesses are struggling, training budgets get cut back just like everything else.  However, this time companies with a long-term view on talent management are approaching things differently.  The Wall Street Journal reported this week that although training budgets at U.S. corporations are down an estimated 11%, the share of budgets allotted to leadership development is growing: Yaarit Silverstone, global managing director for the organization effectiveness...

The Snowball is an excellent new biography of Warren Buffet by Alice Schroder published in September 2008.  It is packed full of wonderful anecdotes and stories from Warren’s life.  At 838 pages one might think it is a bit long, except for the fact that Buffet’s life and business experience span such a long period, the book needs every page and probably more to give the full story justice.  I have a listed a few of Buffet’s life lessons here that relate directly to the topic of leadership:...

Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink, and a frequent contributor to the New Yorker has a new book out this month, Outliers: The Story of Success which explores the age-old question; what separates super-successful people from the rest of us?  The mythic explanation applied to Carnegie, Morgan and other barons is that these were self-made men who relied primarily on their intelligence, personality and sheer will-power.  In a recent Fortune article, Gladwell talks about how...