schools, with an education in one of their elite feeder institutions.
What is the evidence for this breathtakingly audacious claim? Well the writers, all management consultants from the elite firm, McKinsey, initially describe their findings as a kind of shared mystical revelation. They described it like this; "we looked at one another and suddenly the light bulb blinked on." Of course, the idea of a genetic elite of superior leaders is not a new one. The Victorian polymath Francis Galton (1822 – 1911) famously expressed his eugenic theories, coining the term "nature versus nurture" along the way. His ideas were taken up throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by various groups with unsavoury agendas. It should not be surprising therefore to find it re-appear in the twentieth century as a management philosophy.
Later in the book they do provide an extended case study. One organisation they discovered was pioneering the War for Talent. This business recruited aggressively from the Ivy League business schools, applied a rapid "rank or yank" evaluation system, promoted its stars rapidly into positions way ahead of their hands-on experience and showered "the Talent" with glittering prizes that far outstripped both the external market and internal
peers. This organisation also happened to be one of McKinsey's top clients.
So who was this example of best practice in talent management? Well its name was Enron. The very public bankruptcy on 2nd December 2001 of their prime example was probably not the best sales promotion for the newly published management text. The War for Talent though was an idea too good for a mere setback like that. Too good also to be hampered by the lack of empirical data, or a thoroughly thought out theoretical framework. No, this was an idea for the generation of "masters of the universe", a new model for the "Brave New World" of global capitalism, Web 2.0 and celebrity leaders. The financial services sector, in particular lapped it up. Businesses such as RBS,
Lehman and pre-eminently Goldman Sachs saw in the talent agenda a method of management that suited their short-term, bet-the- farm instincts and the feelings of entitlement that went with the debt fuelled artificial boom of the millennial decade.
Throughout the "decade of Talent" one thing was profoundly overlooked. Great organisations are not just a platform for star performers to shine brilliantly. The truly great organisations which have consistently improved profitability and steadily grown shareholder value have been those who have understood that a business is a whole system of value creation. Furthermore they understand that long term value comes from consistently delighted customers and clients. What
those clients value is reliable customer service. Reliable is a good word, and one not featured in the Talent agenda. "Re" plus "liable". "Liable" means taking responsibility. And "Re" means over and over again. And that's what businesses should be looking for in their people, and what people should be looking for in organisations.
So was there ever a "War for Talent", or was it simply a myth to propel the interests of a few over-rated narcissistic performers? If there was a war then perhaps it is time for an armistice and for the peaceful rebuilding of business based on sound principles of service, excellence and experience.
And that's something worth fighting for.
01534 721115 20/20 Society Page 57
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