It is the intellectual justification for why such a high premium is placed on degrees from first-tier business schools, and why the compensation packages for top executives have become so lavish. This “talent mind-set” is the new orthodoxy of American management. “Don’t be afraid to promote stars without specifically relevant experience, seemingly over their heads.” Success in the modern economy, according to Michaels, Handfield-Jones, and Axelrod, requires “the talent mind-set”: the “deep-seated belief that having better talent at all levels is how you outperform your competitors.” “Bet on the natural athletes, the ones with the strongest intrinsic skills,” the authors approvingly quote one senior General Electric executive as saying.
They singled out and segregated their stars, rewarding them disproportionately, and pushing them into ever more senior positions. They recruited ceaselessly, finding and hiring as many top performers as possible. “We looked at one another and suddenly the light bulb blinked on,” the three consultants who headed the project-Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones, and Beth Axelrod-write in their new book, also called “The War for Talent.” The very best companies, they concluded, had leaders who were obsessed with the talent issue. But, as the consultants sifted through the piles of reports and questionnaires and interview transcripts, they grew convinced that the difference between winners and losers was more profound than they had realized.
McKinsey wanted to document how the top-performing companies in America differed from other firms in the way they handle matters like hiring and promotion. Eighteen companies were singled out for special attention, and the consultants spent up to three days at each firm, interviewing everyone from the C.E.O. Thousands of questionnaires were sent to managers across the country. Illustration by Jules Feifferįive years ago, several executives at McKinsey & Company, America’s largest and most prestigious management-consulting firm, launched what they called the War for Talent. The current corporate dogma encourages star employees to make their own rules.
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