The Talent Masters: Why Smart Leaders Put People Before Numbers

The first sentence of this book sets the pace for perpetual gut checks on almost every other page: "If businesses managed their money as carelessly as they manage their people, most would be bankrupt."Bill Conaty, former senior vice president of General Electric, and Ram Charan, co-author of  Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done , have delivered a highly helpful book, packed with practicality far beyond the no-brainer subtitle, "Why Smart Leaders Put People Before Numbers."I've never met CEOs and senior leaders who dispute the priority and importance of people in their organizations. But I do find serious people-related dysfunction in many organizations. There are ample strategic plans, but few people plans--intentionality about growing people and succession. It's hard, but rewarding work.The Talent Masters describes the GE system of people development: --"Only one competency lasts. It is the ability to create a steady, self-renewing stream of leaders." --"One reason hardheaded managers disdain the 'soft stuff' is that it so often reflects soft thinking." --"An exercise in a course at Wharton's advanced management program exposes the futility of buzzword descriptors. The instructor at a recent session asked the participants to explain Steve Job's distinguishing talent." Just one caveat: do it without using buzzwords. (The six pages on "Calibrating Steve Jobs" is, literally, worth the price of the book--it will change your thinking forever on what the co-authors call "searching for the specifics" in talent.) --"Talent masters assess and express what each person is in reality, not against some predetermined checklist." --Addressing the seven principles of the talent masters, they write, "The HR function will only be as strong as the CEO wants it to be, and if the CEO doesn't have high expectations for it, HR will remain second tier." --"In a fast-changing business, the person who is right for a job today may be wrong in a year or even six months." --"...being a talent master is a total leadership job, rather than the sole province of human resources."Here's another gut check: "At the top [of GE], especially, there are no strangers. The CEO and senior vice president of HR know the top six hundred people in the company intimately--their families, their hobbies, their likes and dislikes, their skills, strengths, psychological tendencies, and development needs. These six hundred executives have become almost a family."This under-the-covers look at GE's annual planning process is revealing. From January to June they're looking at people. From July to October, they address strategy, and in November it's all wrapped together into operations and budget. Core values (like a culture of forthrightness and candor) ooze out continuously.Really...there are just too many highlights in this jam-packed toolbox. You'll learn about their foundational "Session C" approach, including this: "They're not afraid to confront the reality that everyone makes mistakes; the worst mistake is the failure to remedy those already made."Another insight: the balance between "hammers" and "softies." Every leadership team needs both. One more: GE regularly categorizes their top people talent into three groups: Top Talent, Highly Valued and Less Effective.I gotta stop--and I haven't even mentioned the Talent Mastery Tool Kit, more than 40 pages of resources, including: --12 critical true or false questions on "Does your company have the culture of a talent master?" --The how-to's of mastering talent (selecting, developing, assessing, and recognizing and retaining leaders) --A 9-box grid (3 boxes across, 3 down) to categorize your people. The 3 across the top: High Potential, Moderate Potential, Topped Out --"Guidelines for Your Next Talent Review" and much, much moreBottom line: buy it.

The Talent Masters provides an excellent insiders view into how the best companies manage talent. What's illuminating is just how ingrained and deliberate the principles and practices of managing talent are in the featured companies (GE, P&G, Novartis ) Nothing is left to chance. Everyone talks about how GE manages talent so it's interesting to hear just how straightforward some of the processes are, albeit underpinned by disciplined execution and absolute leadership commitment. It seems that so many companies today are getting caught up and perhaps distracted by technology. They put their talent management processes online to increase efficiency but often fall short on effectiveness. This book focuses squarely on effectiveness. It's a must read for any HR/Talent Management professionals and is equally valuable to line leaders and executives seeking to think more strategically about the age old challenge of ensuring that they have the right people in the right roles at the right time to execute business strategy and deliver results. The Talent Mastery tool kit at the end of the book provides practical tools that can be adopted and put to use in any company.Garrett Sheridan,Managing PartnerAxiom Consulting Partners

Talent Masters provides an inner perspective of how leaders are identified and mentored to run business. The GE case study, I personally felt is singled out to just 5 top leaders. Even though insights have been provided, the case study described by Bill is only a few in the thousands of leaders they have. What I would have preferred to know is more cross continental leaders whom they have nurtured over the years and how that has impacted their business.I like the HLL case study better.Overall, it is a good read for any Executive/Manager who is aspiring to understand how to nurture leaders and identify them at early stages. There is no right way/wrong way. These are case studies and might give you an insight into how leaders can be identified and mentored.

The authors share some real world examples of the talent management practices of the top companies such as GE, Agilent, Unilever India, etc. There are some examples of decision making in leadership succession at GE are shared. The authors also provide some practical examples and framework for talent development.On the flip side, most of these stories tend to be anecdotal and one get the feeling that the authors pick and choose outliers as examples as some of these practices are hard to deploy in large scale in the real world.

Terrible quality. I spend 25$ on a new book and it looks like it has been used extensively or no attention to detail when book binding happened. I haven’t read the book yet but I am not eager anymore either

Excellent book for a leader that aspires to inspire and HR practioners alike.

Loved it

Truly enjoyed The Talent Masters- insightful and useful look at human capital/talent management, with applicability to the government, non-profits, and academia as well as business.

Its a wonderful read and worth the penny paid. The facts presented are really very interesting and very useful for the new business leaders.Thank you authors for such a wonderful gift to the world.

I found the book good. However, there seems to be a lot of repetition - saying one thing again and again - which becomes quite boring at times. Overall, it provides a lot of good points for putting in place a robust Talent Management process in an organization.

Worth reading 100 times !!!

Libro ricco di casi di Talent Management & Development. Molto interessante.