October Issue
Welcome to my newsletter. Consider this a collection of insights and ideas from myself and the team at CEO.works.
What an energizing month! We had our annual team conference at the CEO.works Farm in upstate New York. The first all-hands meeting we've had in a long time. It was nice to reconnect with old friends and partners and meet our growing team's new members. I want to thank Scott Peltin, Jake Marx, Brian Wade, and the whole Tignum team for spearheading a fantastic sustainable human performance session with our team. We all walked away with valuable insights, and now we are equipped with a full toolkit for high performance. And, a heartfelt thanks to our Partner, Dhaval Bhagat, for his very excellent group picture skills!
The 7 Deadly Sins of Talent
Have you had a chance to read Bill Allen's article series on what he describes as the 7 deadly sins of talent? It's recommended reading for anyone in a leadership role in HR, keen to remain a step ahead and eager to learn from Bill's expertise and experience. The series contains articles that ponder the troubles of "best practices," incrementalism, talent "hoarding," and the following excerpt from his latest, sameness:
"If you read your company's HR strategy, would you be able to tell which company it was written for? Does it demonstrate a deep understanding of how talent can be deployed to drive real competitive advantage for your company? Are you focused on the war for talent or on winning the war with talent?"
Reading these questions posed by Prudential Financial's Chief HR Officer Lucien Aliziari over a decade ago reminds me that the quintessential purpose of the HR function is to connect people to the business. That calls for differentiation—not sameness.
Strategy is, as UCLA professor Richard Rummelt said, both "an educated prediction of how the world works" and "the application of strength against weakness…or, if you prefer, to the most promising opportunities." A company's people strategy should, therefore, reflect its context and focus its resources appropriately.
In the 1950s, for instance, we in HR focused on laying the basic infrastructure for our post-WWII workforce. Then, it made sense for companies across all sectors to offer returning veterans job security, automatic cost-of-living raises, defined benefit pension plans, and retiree health insurance. That gave them, their families, our workforces, and society some much-needed stability.
By the 1990s, business had shifted from domestic to global, resulting in a different set of requirements from a talent standpoint. The war for talent was on, and we shifted focus to recruitment and retention. Today, with geopolitical conflicts and shortages souring the global economy and technology and pandemics disrupting the workplace, our focus is shifting again.
领英推荐
Now we must directly link the demand for talent to the supply and develop differentiated people strategies to "win with talent."
You can read the complete article on our blog.
CEO.works | Europe Webinar
If you found Bill's articles insightful, I think you will appreciate the next webinar Hein's team has prepared for November 2nd. The discussion will guide HR leaders who want to align their functions to drive company performance. It will feature our European experts, Managing Partner Hein Knaapen, and Senior Partner Prateek Sinha. You can find all the details about this webinar, including registration information, by following this link. You don't want to miss this conversation.
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