The Talent Advantage - Alan Weiss and Nancy MacKay

Another book I picked in my effort (perhaps an overly ambitious one) to understand the talent management space as quickly as possible.

This book is more relevant to a CEO audience than to a HR executive-wannabe. But there are still lessons to be learnt that can be applied to managers keen on recruiting and retaining talent in their own teams.

Some of the interesting insights:

1. People do follow tough bosses who exact high standards and deliver. People hungry for success want to work for successful people and learn from them.
2. Don't blindly promote people from within based on their technical expertise
3. All the divisional leaders / supervisors have to be engaged in the talent game. HR policies have to be executed well for talent to be attracted, groomed and retained.
4. Hold people accountable to generate results
5. Prepare a strong bench - have at least 2 people groomed and on track for the key leadership roles in one's organisation
6. To retain talent, one has to go beyond financial incentives, into giving people learning and growth opportunities, providing career certainties for the top talent, and giving top talent variety in their jobs
7. Need to keep an eye out for future talent trends and demands - cos we are grooming people for the future