Talent Management for the Twenty-First Century

Failures in talent management are an ongoing source of pain for executives in modern organizations. Over the past generation, talent management practices, especially in the United States, have by and large been dysfunctional, leading corporations to lurch from surpluses of talent to shortfalls to surpluses and back again. It’s time for a fundamentally new approach to talent management that takes into account the great uncertainty businesses face today. Fortunately, companies already have such a model, one that has been well honed over decades to anticipate and meet demand in uncertain environments—supply chain management. By borrowing lessons from operations and supply chain research, firms can forge a new model of talent management better suited to today’s realities. This brief looks at the context in which talent management has evolved over the past few decades and its current state.