The Talent Masters

If talent is the leading indicator of whether a business is up or down, a success or a failure (and it is) . . . do you know how to accurately judge raw human talent? Understand a person’s unique combination of traits? Develop that talent? Convert what supposedly are “soft” subjective judgments about people into objective criteria that are as specific, verifiable, and concrete as the contents of a financial statement?

The talent masters do. They put people before numbers for the simple reason that it is talent that delivers the numbers. Success comes from those who are able to extract meaning from events and the forces affecting a business, and are able to look at the world and assess the risks to take and the risks to avoid.

The Talent Masters itself stems from a unique combination of talent: During a forty-year career at General Electric, Bill Conaty worked closely with CEOs Jack Welch and Jeff Immelt to build that company’s world-renowned talent machine. Ram Charan is the legendary advisor to companies around the world. Together they use their unparalleled experience and insight to write the definitive book on talent—a breakthrough in how to take a business to the next level:

• Insight into how world-class companies find and nurture leadership talent.
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Understanding of why intimacy with your talent and a repetitive rhythm of reviews are the foundation for creating a steady, self-renewing stream of leaders for all levels of an organization.
• Recognition that while financial results, market share, brand and legacy products all have a half-life that seems to grow shorter by the year, talent is the only competency that endures.
• Ability to pinpoint and build an individual’s leadership strengths.
• Specific guidelines for assessing and improving your company’s talent mastery capabilities.