Talent Talk

I thought it would still be some time before science was brought into the workplace to identify such things as, for example, the causes of more productive behaviour or greater team effectiveness.

Not so. The latest edition of The Economist has run a story on an ingenious scientific experiment that has sought to do just that - with fascinating results. The story can be read here.

Talent Talk

‘It’s a company that really really cares for its employees…’

‘What I love about working here is the energy of the people. People are so motivated and have so many ideas…’

‘People come from all over the country to work here…’

‘Too much intelligence and energy is being devoted to scraping the crumbs off the table of capitalism instead of preparing the meal.’

If there ever was an epithet that sums up the failings of capitalism, Warren Buffett’s comes pretty close.

In previous Talks we’ve looked at the make-up of entrepreneurs and the impact of ‘The System’ on one’s individual talent. In this Talk we combine the two themes and ask whether the way the economic system is run rewards the right values. Does the economic system encourage creation, a ‘preparing of the meal’, or does it lend itself to incrementalism, a ’scraping the crumbs off the table’?

A painting of a muddy pond with a few lilies floating on it sold for a record $80m last week amid signs that despite the economic downturn, the art market is in good health.

Monet’s Bassin aux Nympheas may not strike you as being one of his greatest works (as in all probability it is not) but the fact that it was able to attract such a high bid says something about how we price talent.

It’s that time of year again.

The Crown has submitted its annual accounts which have shown expenditure up 5.3% and the Royal Family now costing the UK taxpayer a whopping 66 pence per annum. At a time when everyone from MPs to Russian moguls are tightening their belts, you can imagine the chorus of disapproval emanating from Hoxton to the Houses of Parliament when they learn that the cost of running this enterprise is now over £40m per year.

We wonder however if those concerned are being a bit harsh. After all, the Press has covered only one side of the story, which is the cost of running the Royals. This gets us frankly nowhere. Every company thinks its staff are overpaid and every employee thinks they’re invariably worth more than their monthly paycheque.

This recent article by the folks over at Harvard has really touched a nerve. Asking why managers don’t think more deeply, the article partly reviews the Zaltmans’ new book on the subject, Marketing Metaphoria. At the time of writing, the article had generated a remarkable 134 responses.

So why the ballyhoo over such a seemingly mundane topic about how deeply we think at work?

There seems to be no obvious explanation. Judging from the responses, a number of people feel quite passionate on the subject and hold management, organisations, and the whole professional landscape squarely responsible for the malaise of ’shallow thinking’.

It is now seven years since Jim Collins penned the results of his research into what causes mediocre companies to make the leap from Good to Great.

Taking over five years to complete, the research project is perhaps one of the most far-reaching ever conducted in business.

The conclusions we believe can also be used by people in their careers, including the Hedgehog Concept, and the Flywheel Effect.