Focus on democratizing talent & expertise as your ultimate duty

Welcome back to The Ultimate Duty, a bi-weekly newsletter about inspiring the next generation of world leaders and global citizens who are conscious of their ultimate duty and are committed to making the world a better place.?Click subscribe?above to be notified of future editions.

"A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort." -?Sydney Smith.

Instead of power in society resting with one individual, or an elite who owned more wealth, in the year 507 B.C., the Athenian leader Cleisthenes introduced a new, more inclusive system that he called demokratia, or “rule by the people” (from demos, “the people,” and kratos, or “power”). It was the first known democracy in the world. Today, democratic countries (those which involve and give voice to each of their citizens and protect human rights) enjoy more equal societies, and are also the wealthiest. Thus, the invention by Cleisthenes, “The Father of Democracy,” was one of ancient Greece’s most enduring contributions to the modern world.

“Your attitude is even more important than talent. We all have talent - and it should be honed, directed, encouraged and applied. But our attitudes are the wings on which our talent flies or dives.” - Rasheed Ogunlaru

This is true of talent and expert democratization where companies, institutions and countries which are able to attract diverse talent and expertise are the most progressive. To democratize talent and expertise is to allow people to take control of their career development by giving them the right resources and opportunities to actualize their full potential and participate in decision-making. Talent democratization makes companies stronger because they will become more adaptable and attractive to new talent and expertise.

“A person is purely talented if he has the capability to bring out the hidden talent in another person” - P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar

If you are especially good at something, you have a talent because to be talented is to have a natural ability or aptitude to do something well. You can become an expert when you are very knowledgeable about or skillful in a particular area leading to mastery of a particular subject. With some training and acquisition of new skills, you can acquire technical skills that will make you twice as likely to be associated with high-income occupations.

“The world doesn’t pay you because you have acquired more skills or that you are exceptionally skilled at something, the world pays you for the value you use your gift to produce, the value you bring to the marketplace.” - Bernard Kelvin Clive

We can only solve most of our global problems when we give chance and opportunity to diverse talent and expertise because complex issues require new ideas from different perspectives. Furthermore, access to more diverse talent and expertise is critical for the digital economy because people will be able to use their talents to create value for others, while earning money. Knowledge enables citizens to participate in the economy as a result of democratization of skills which makes it possible to join the global economy via the internet and exchange services or share expertise from any place.

“In a future ready organization, ‘talent’ is increasingly a metaphor for capability—at the right place, at the right time and equally, at the right price.” - Gyan Nagpal

Just like democracy, citizens can only actively participate if a robust system enables the chance and opportunity. Company leaders can get better results by focusing on democratizing talent which include making a decision to put more resources and effort into democratizing talent, leading to numerous benefits.

Why Does Talent Democratization Matter?

1.?????Better Employee Engagement: When leaders prioritize talent democratization, it gives employees a sense of direction and emphasizes that their actions influence their future success and happiness.

2.?????Improved Profitability: Talent democratization also means increasing diversity, and research shows that a more diverse workplace also often drives profits. For example, those at the top for gender and ethnic diversity are 36 percent more likely to outperform bottom-level peers in profitability (A McKinsey & Co. study).

3.?????Access to a Larger Talent Pool: The rise of remote work has also helped company leaders explore talent democratization as they search for candidates outside the immediate vicinity. This opens opportunities for people who may dislike or are unable to follow traditional work schedules.

4.?????Higher Retention Rates: People are more likely to show loyalty to companies that democratize talent. This is because democratizing talent helps create a work environment where all employees feel valued, respected and seen.

Seven tips for putting talent democratization into practice:

1.?????Provide an Individualized Career Pathway: Create a career pathway for each employee to reinforce that they’re in control of their futures. For example, you can tie certain job milestones to positive outcomes like new titles or higher pay. You can offer the career pathway in an easily accessible format for employees to track their progress as they pursue more personal growth.

2.?????Schedule Frequent Check-In Sessions: Have ongoing supervisor-employee check-ins to allow the employee to know what’s going well and where room for improvement exists, including to bring up any questions or concerns.

3.?????Offer Remote Work Opportunities When Feasible: You can access top-tier talent by giving people chances to work remotely; this shows that you trust employees to stay productive with limited oversight.

4.?????Encourage Employees to Embrace Change: Change is necessary for helping employees grow, and a company’s culture should ideally urge employees to view it positively. Have an open-door policy that allows people to voice their concerns about upcoming changes; this is a proactive step in creating a more democratized workplace.

5.?????Recognize the Small Victories: A democratic workplace involves recognizing excellent work, even with seemingly minor progress. It shows that superiors notice and value their contributions, which makes them feel engaged and excited about their jobs.

6.?????Show Flexibility When Hiring People: Democratizing talent also means eliminating strict hiring requirements such as not requiring candidates to have college degrees, instead possessing equivalent qualifications is often enough. You can also give chance to a person who lacks experience in a specific skill but shows an obvious willingness to learn.

7.?????Understand the Ripple Effects of a More Diverse Workforce: Emphasizing diversity brings benefits spanning beyond a workplace, including to recognize bias. Creating more diversity in lab causes positive changes in the scientific community and the world at large. Thus, leaders should count diversity and inclusion among an organization’s guiding values.?

Conclusion

"If you're young and talented, it's like you have wings." - Haruki Murakami.

A “lack of access to talent” is one of the leading barriers to progress for social impact organizations around the world. This makes it difficult for startups, nonprofits, schools, healthcare organizations and other “changemakers” to access the right skills at the right time to scale and create an impact. In addition, millions of young people are dreaming to make it in life if only they are given access to the right study and career opportunity. There are also numerous corporates and small businesses who are busy scouting for top talent in campuses, which may take over a month to screen new talents. Talent democratization makes it possible for corporates to access to top talent and expertise, and for talented job seekers and experts to access their dream jobs. ?

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Today we shall be standing on the shoulders of the following giants, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants,” - Sir Isaac Newton, because “The best leaders know that they are standing on the shoulders of others who have come before them.” - Germany Kent:

1.?????“My main job was developing talent. I was a gardener providing water and other nourishment to our top 750 people. Of course, I had to pull out some weeds, too.” - Jack Welch

2.?????Never become so much of an expert that you stop gaining expertise. View life as a continuous learning experience. - Denis Waitley

3.?????Experts tend to be confident that they have all the answers and, because of this trait, they can kill new ideas. But when you are trying to break new ground, you have no interest in getting stuck in engineering conventions or intellectual mud. – James Dyson

4.?????“Good leaders organize and align people around what the team needs to do. Great leaders motivate and inspire people with why they are doing it. That’s the key to achieving something truly transformational” - Marilyn Hewson

5.?????“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently” - Warren Buffett

6.?????“The most valuable businesses of the coming decades will be built by entrepreneurs who seek to empower people rather than make them obsolete” - Peter Thiel

7.?????"True expertise is the most potent form of authority." - Victoria Bond

8.?????“There's no such thing as a natural-born pilot.” - Chuck Yeager.

9.?????“As a leader, it is important to not just see your own success but focus on the success of others” - Sundar Pichai

10.??“Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish” - Sam Walton

11.??“As you get bigger, you have to learn to delegate. It’s also an excellent way to get staff involved in a company’s operation” - Azim Premji

12.??“Good management consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people” - John Rockefeller

13.??Definitely consider the expertise of those who provide counsel, but evaluate those opinions against things that may be beyond the expert’s vision—like your long-term goals. -Ken Segal

14.??“Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.” — Tom Peters

15.??“If we win the hearts and minds of the employees, we’re going to have better business success” - Mary T. Bacca

16.??“A leader is someone that creates infectious enthusiasm.” - Ted Turner

17.??“A company is stronger if it is bound by love rather than fear” - Herb Kelleher

18.??You must continue to gain expertise, but avoid thinking like an expert. - Denis Waitley

19.??“Good leaders organize and align people around what the team needs to do. Great leaders motivate and inspire people with why they are doing it. That’s the key to achieving something truly transformational” - Marilyn Hewson

20.??“Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.” ?- Ralph Waldo Emerson

21.??“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently” - Warren Buffett

22.??“The most valuable businesses of the coming decades will be built by entrepreneurs who seek to empower people rather than make them obsolete” - Peter Thiel

23.??For the beginner, novelty is anything that hasn’t been encountered before. For the expert, novelty is nuance. – Angela Duckworth

24.??True intuitive expertise is learned from prolonged experience with good feedback on mistakes. - Daniel Kahneman

25.??“As a leader, it is important to not just see your own success but focus on the success of others” - Sundar Pichai

26.??“Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish” - Sam Walton

27.??“Growing other leaders from the ranks isn’t just the duty of the leader, it’s an obligation.” - Warren Bennis

28.??“As you get bigger, you have to learn to delegate. It’s also an excellent way to get staff involved in a company’s operation” - Azim Premji

29.??To succeed as a team is to hold all of the members accountable for their expertise. - Mitch Caplan

30.??“Good management consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people” - John Rockefeller

31.??“If we win the hearts and minds of the employees, we’re going to have better business success” - Mary T. Bacca

32.??“A leader is someone that creates infectious enthusiasm.” - Ted Turner

33.??Uncle said I’ll never sell a million records, I sold a million records like a million times – Jay-z, Crown (Magna Carta Album)

34.??“Winning companies win because they have good leaders who nurture the development of other leaders at all levels of the organization.” - Noel Tichy

35.??People who have expertise just love to share it. That's human nature. - David Baldacci

36.??“A company is stronger if it is bound by love rather than fear” - Herb Kelleher

37.??“Make sure everybody in the company has great opportunities, has a meaningful impact and is contributing to the good of the society.” - Larry Page

38.??“The stronger the culture, the less corporate process a company needs. When the culture is strong, you can trust everyone to do the right thing.” - Brian Chesky

39.??“Culture does not change because we desire to change it. Culture changes when the organization is transformed; the culture reflects the realities of people working together every day.” - Frances Hesselbein

40.??An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field. - Niels Bohr

41.??If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. ... We need not wait to see what others do. - Mahatma Gandhi

42.??“A big part of our people-first culture is treating people with respect and transparency.” - Arne Sorenson

43.??Too many leaders are like bad travel agents. They send people places they have never been. Instead, they should be more like tour guides, taking people places they have gone and sharing the wisdom of their own experiences.- John Maxwell

44.??“Culture is what motivates and retains talented employees” - Betty Thompson

45.??“Our secret weapon for building the best culture is open and honest feedback.” - Gina Lou

46.??Developing expertise or assets that are not easily copied is essential; otherwise you're just a middleman. - Seth Godin

47.??“The greatest asset of a company is its people” - Jorge Paulo Lemann

48.??“’Failing forward’ is the ability to get back up after you’ve been knocked down, learn from your mistake, and move forward in a better direction.” – John Maxwell

49.??“Being a great place to work is the difference between being a good company and a great company.” - Brian Kristofek

50.??“Company culture is the continuous pursuit of building the best, most talented, and happiest team we possibly can.” - Andrew Wilkinson

51.??I offer my expertise and experience for hire in order to help a group of people reach the summit. - Anatoli Boukreev

52.??“When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute." - Simon Sinek

53.??The average person suffers from three delusions: (1) that he is a good driver, (2) that he has a good sense of humor, and (3) that he is a good listener. – Steven Sample

54.??“Employees engage with employers and brands when they’re treated as humans.” - Meghan Biro

55.??“The more seriously you take your growth, the more seriously your people will take you.” — John Maxwell

56.??“To win the marketplace, you must first win the workplace.”?- Doug Conant

57.??Be warned that being an expert is more than understanding how a system is supposed to work. Expertise is gained by investigating why a system doesn't work. - Brian Redman

58.??“Everyone talks about building a relationship with your customers. I think you build one with your employees first." - Angela Ahrendts

59.??“Understanding your employee’s perspective can go a long way towards increasing productivity and happiness.” - Kathryn Minshew

60.??“Employee engagement is about getting the best people, retaining them, nurturing a creative environment and helping to find a way to innovate." - Marissa Mayer

61.??"I'll bet most of the companies that are in life-or-death battles got into that kind of trouble because they didn't pay enough attention to developing their leaders." - Wayne Calloway

62.??“An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in his subject, and how to avoid them.” - Werner Heisenberg

63.??Never become so much of an expert that you stop gaining expertise. View life as a continuous learning experience. – Denis Waitley

64.??View life as a continuous learning experience. - Denis Waitley

65.??“A good reputation for yourself and your company is an invaluable asset not reflected in the balance sheets” - Li Ka-Shing

66.??“We recognize that our success as a company and as an industry relies on developing, creating and growing an inclusive culture and diverse workforce” - Juan Ricardo Archer

67.??“To be competitive, you need to have a culture that people want to come into and stay a part of” - Jim Fitterling

68.??“The curious mind embraces science; the gifted and sensitive, the arts; the practical, business; the leftover becomes an economist” - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

69.??“Businesses often forget about the culture, and ultimately, they suffer for it because you can’t deliver good service from unhappy employees.” - Tony Hsieh

70.??If we're able to identify our own ignorance, we can identify someone else's expertise. We learn how to listen to each other. And that is the foundation of human understanding. - Ted Koppel

71.??"While great leaders may be as rare as great runners, great actors, or great painters, everyone has leadership potential, just as everyone has some ability at running, acting, and painting." - Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus

72.??“A hallmark of a healthy creative culture is that its people feel free to share ideas, opinions, and criticisms.” - Ed Catmull

73.??“Perhaps my only real expertise, my only talent, is to endure beyond the endurable.” - Jeff VanderMeer

74.??“Don’t limit yourself, discover new areas of expertise” - Sunday Adelaja

75.??“The competition to hire the best will increase in the years ahead. Companies that give extra flexibility to their employees will have the edge in this area” - Bill Gates

76.??An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less. - Nicholas Murray Butler

77.??“Hire character. Train skill." - Peter Schutz

78.??“Hire for passion and intensity; there is training for everything." - Nolan Bushnell

79.??“Experts were once amateurs who kept practicing.” - Amit Kalantri

80.??“Nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day, you bet on people, not strategies.” - Lawrence Bossidy

81.??"Employees are a company’s greatest asset – they’re your competitive advantage. You want to attract and retain the best; provide them with encouragement, stimulus, and make them feel that they are an integral part of the company’s mission." - Anne M. Mulcahy

82.??“The secret to a successful hire is this: look for the people who want to change the world” - Marc Benioff

83.??“But before he could become an expert, someone had to give him the opportunity to learn how to be an expert.” - Malcolm Gladwell

84.??Very narrow areas of expertise can be very productive. Develop your own profile. Develop your own niche. - Leigh Steinberg

85.??“Your calling is your unique area of expertise” - Sunday Adelaja

86.??“The person passionate about what he or she is doing will outwork and outlast the guy motivated solely by making money” - Reid Hoffman

87.??“I’m a large believer in hiring the right people and giving them unbelievable amounts of power and autonomy” - Blake Mycoskie

88.??“If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood, sweat, and tears.” - Simon Sinek

89.??Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. - Jack Welch

90.??“It is a social duty to focus your expertise onto fixing a global pandemic.” - Steven Magee

91.??One person can't know or like everything, so an editor needs collaborators whose opinions and expertise he values and can trust. - Toni Jerrman

92.??“Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.” - Richard Branson

93.??“Researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours.” - Malcolm Gladwell

94.??Talent is the multiplier. The more energy and attention you invest in it, the greater the yield. The time you spend with your best is, quite simply, your most productive time. - Marcus Buckingham

95.??“It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” - Steve Jobs

96.??“Some people do not deserve your expertise.” - Dax Bamania

97.??"I hire people brighter than me and I get out of their way." - Lee Iacocca

98.??In the new organisation, power flows from expertise, not position. - Thomas A. Stewart

99.??"If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants." - David Ogilvy

100.????????"First-rate people hire first-rate people; second-rate people hire third-rate people." - Leo Rosten

101.????????“The most successful experts also belong to the wider world.” - David Epstein

102.????????"I will only hire someone to work directly for me if I would work for that person." - Mark Zuckerberg

103.????????“We told them that trying to do things they can’t yet do, failing, and learning what they need to do differently is exactly the way experts practice.” - Angela Duckworth

104.????????"The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it." - Theodore Roosevelt

105.????????One of the problems with expertise is that people have it in some domains and not in others. - Daniel Kahneman

106.????????“The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.” - Harvey S. Firestone

107.????????“Projects need to be interdisciplinary in order to fully utilize every available expertise.” - Dr. Lucas D. Shallua

108.????????“There goes my people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.” - Mahatma Gandhi

109.????????“Talent is awakened.” - Wallace Stegner

110.????????Incompetence is certainty in the absence of expertise. Overconfidence is certainty in the presence of expertise. - Malcolm Gladwell

111.????????“True happiness involves the full use of one’s power and talents.” - John W. Gardner

112.????????“Don’t forget that you can only sell a thing that you have proficiency in.” - Pooja Agnihotri

113.????????“The meaning of [the PhD] is that the recipient of instruction is examined for the last time in his life, and is pronounced completely full. After this, no new ideas can be imparted to him.” - Stephen Leacock

114.????????“Talent is a gift, but character is a choice.” - John C. Maxwell

115.????????“There is no such thing as a great talent without great willpower.” - Honore de Balzac

116.????????“Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character.” - John Wooden

117.????????“With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.” - Thomas Foxwell Burton

118.????????“Your business idea can wait but don’t enter a market without enough expertise and experience.” - Pooja Agnihotri

119.????????Don't get roped into talking about something that you don't really have passion for, and don't get roped into something you don't have expertise in. Why should somebody listen to you? If you're going to take somebody's time, you better deliver. - Tony Robbins

120.????????“Embrace your talent and pursue it. You won’t believe what you can accomplish.” - Anonymous

121.????????“Talent is a universal gift, but it takes a lot of courage to use it. Don’t be afraid to be the best.” - Paulo Coelho

122.????????“Strategy will compensate the talent. The talent will never compensate the strategy.” - Marco Pierre White

123.????????Make three correct guesses consecutively and you will establish a reputation as an expert. - Laurence J. Peter

124.????????“There is considerable difference between experience and expertise.” - David Stuver

125.????????“Talent develops through hard work and dedication.” – ATGW

126.????????Outside of their particular area of expertise scientists are just as dumb as the next person. - Richard P. Feynman

127.????????“Why hide your talent in the closet of complacency when you have greatness within you?” - Robin Sharma

128.????????“You are a super duper amazing talented go-getter, let nothing stand in your way ever.” – Anonymous

129.????????“There exists in some individuals more than enough talents, expertises, or greatness for more than three people.” - Mokokoma Mokhonoana

130.????????“I really believe that everyone has a talent, ability, or skill that he can mine to support himself and to succeed in life.” - Dean Koontz

131.????????“If you have talent, use it in every which way possible. Don’t hoard it. Don’t dole it out like a miser. Spend it lavishly, like a millionaire intent on going broke.” - Brenda Francis

132.????????The key to branding, especially for smaller firms, is to focus on a limited number of issue areas and develop superb expertise in those areas. - Philip Kotler

133.????????“All of us are talented in our unique way. We just need to recognize our capacity and develop our talents to their full potential.” – Anonymous

134.????????“Having the data is not the same as having the expertise to look through the data - if it were, everybody with a smartphone would be a doctor or a scientist.” - Abhijit Naskar

135.????????“Talent is like a flower, you have to fully tend to it if you want something beautiful.” - Marinela Reka

136.????????“You just need to discover your superpower and bet on it.” ― Noha Alaa El-Din

137.????????“Don’t be silent on your talent!” ― Israelmore Ayivor

138.????????Often a sign of expertise is noticing what doesn't happen. - Malcolm Gladwell

139.????????“The ‘expert’ is the man who stays put.” - McLuhan Marshal

140.????????“You are called to serve people and humanity with your talent.” ― Sunday Adelaja

141.????????“Believe in yourself. You are braver than you think, more talented than you know, and capable of more than you imagine.” ― Roy T. Bennett

142.????????“The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it.” ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

143.????????“If you’re young and talented, it’s like you have wings.” ― Haruki Murakami

144.????????Very narrow areas of expertise can be very productive. Develop your own profile. Develop your own niche. - Leigh Steinberg

145.????????The world has shown that if you provide capital and expertise to an area that is starved for capital and expertise, really good things will happen. - Nathan Myhrvold

146.????????“We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities but its own talents.” ― Eric Hoffer

147.????????“Our attitudes are the wings on which our talent and careers fly or dive.” ― Rasheed Ogunlaru

148.????????“Talent is a miracle. Tenacity is a mindset. Talent without tenacity will tank out, but tenacity trumps talent over time, every time.” ― Jeremy Gove

149.????????Success is really about expertise. - Steve Young

150.????????“Growth happens in adversity. When you come out of your comfort zone, you tend to discover new facets to your creativity and talent. Troubles don’t always break you; they make you too.” ― Avijeet Das

Additional Resources

1.?????Democratizing Access to Talent – MovingWorlds.org is Launching Globally https://blog.movingworlds.org/democratizing-access-to-talent-movingworlds-launches-globally/

2.?????Dual Democratization of Jobs and Talent https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/dual-democratization-jobs-talent-venguswamy-ramaswamy/

3.?????Why democratizing skills is the key to the post-pandemic economy https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/04/democratizing-skills-post-pandemic-economy/

4.?????Democratization of knowledge within your organization https://www.starmind.ai/resources/democratization-of-knowledge

5.?????Democratizing Talent: Why It Matters and How to Do It https://finance.yahoo.com/news/democratizing-talent-why-matters-143911886.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADlLlPpVikE6r8BgrVuwt-Hwb7WF9aNYCC8L2E5YzylqeJTdSMTcKv3DyUXsPfLjWP_nHBJKE2R8IPjml_rxfN3gvCq1r6qvq_pyAD9VHvpU1mPnpKzEY3TSO7S1-_jgXPpKYeldKDxcj4SAGSdjhbYoj13KxD-pxIuYarAssm70