Introduction to Talent Management

The assets of an enterprise can perhaps be divided into two parts: its people, and everything else. While some may measure the value of a company by its real estate, sales, inventories, supply chains, accounts receivable, brand recognition, and the thousands of other pieces that when assembled create an organization’s physical and market presence, it may also be said quite simply that a company consists of the human beings who use technology to improve the lives of their fellow citizens. A dictionary definition of “talent” is people who possess a special aptitude or faculty. There is in this definition the whiff of creativity, of thinking outside the box, of a unique ability to solve a problem. Today’s intensely competitive marketplace tolerates no automatons or robotic time-card-punchers who dutifully perform the same task year after year and hope to retire with a gold watch. Companies large and small—both the mom-and-pop corner store and the global Fortune 500 leviathan�...