Successful Talent Strategies: Achieving Superior Business Results Through Market-Focused Staffing [Hardcover]

David Sears (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 22, 2002

Like product and service markets, employment markets go up and down, but they never stand still. For any staffing strategy to be effective, it must be responsive to changes both within and outside the organization. Consequently, such initiatives must be designed with the same forethought, care, and commitment that go into other business strategies. Successful Talent Strategies provides a blueprint for talent planning in an economy where skillfully deployed human capital is the difference between unbridled success and straggling to stay afloat. Step by step, the book illustrates the process of creating a business-aligned talent system, with detailed strategies for:
-- Aligning initiatives with department processes, corporate objectives, and market realities
-- Identifying necessary competencies and attributes
-- Establishing talent flow and talent engagement processes, including sourcing and retention methods, performance management, and reward systems
-- Measuring and improving talent strategy results, and more

Featuring many examples from companies of all types and sizes, Successful Talent Strategies can help any business find and keep top talent in any conditions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

If you want to be one of those who makes things happen, by understanding,developing,and applying cohesive strategies, read this book. -- The MidWest Book Review

About the Author

David Sears (Morris Plains, NJ) is former Corporate Director of Staffing and Development for Dow Jones & Company and is currently Principal of McDermott-Sears Associates, a consulting firm focusing on talent and compensation strategies.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM; 1st edition (November 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814407463
• ISBN-13: 978-0814407462
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,122,176 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Sears is a New Jersey-based author and historian. David's early career included service as a United States Navy officer with extensive sea duty aboard a destroyer and a tour of duty as an in-country advisor during the Vietnam War. (Visit his web site: www.dlsearsbooks.com)

David's latest book (May 2011)is: Pacific Air: How Fearless Flyboys, Peerless Aircraft and Fast Flattops Conquered the Skies in The War With Japan

Such Men As These, his previous book, tells the remarkable, true-life exploits of Korean War U.S. Navy combat pilots--events and heroes that inspired The Bridges at Toko-Ri, James A. Michener's classic book about aerial combat ever.

At War with the Wind, his first military history book, recounts the U.S. Navy's fierce defense against the Japanese air- and seaborne suicide attackers: the kamikazes.

His book The Last Epic Naval Battle: Voices of Leyte Gulf chronicles the exploits of 60 sailors and aviators in the last and most decisive sea battle of World War II.

In addition to his books, David publishes Tin Can Calendar and Carrier Air Calendar, annual historical calendars that celebrate the exploits, lives and legacies of U.S. Navy ship, sailors and air crews in historical fact and full-color illustrations (see samples on this page). Visit www.dlsearsbooks.com and click on Courageous Calendars for more information and free enrollment in the Courageous Calendars Roll Calls.

David's corporate business experience includes management roles at the New York Times Company and Dow Jones And Company. David has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MS in Industrial Relations from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Magic Connection: Talent and Profits, November 9, 2002

By 

Roger E. Herman (Greensboro, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Successful Talent Strategies: Achieving Superior Business Results Through Market-Focused Staffing (Hardcover)

The lexicon birthed a new word not so long ago: talent. No, actually the word is not new, but the way the word is applied as taken on new meaning. "Talent" now describes the people who work for an organization, with a particular focus on the skills, knowledge, and capabilities they bring. Talent is more than just workers; it's the collective capacity of people to contribute to the achievement of results. The concept of talent, as the definition is evolving, links the application of competence to fulfillment of corporate strategy. While some may argue that the difference between "workers" and "talent" is merely semantic, others will assert that the engagement of human capability-from education, experience, expertise, and leadership-adds considerable value to viewing employees as mere human resources.

This concept of "talent" and its appropriate productive use is getting a lot of attention in various books and periodicals. Jim Collins in his book, "Good to Great," talks about having the right people---in the right seats---on the bus. Why? Having the most talented people to perform particular jobs is critical to an organization's success.

Most organizations don't have the right mix of people--talent---assigned to the right roles. And, to exacerbate the problem, they're burdened with too many people who, for various reasons, should no longer be employed by the company. The unavoidable consequence is that the organization is seriously inhibited in its drive to achieve its strategic objectives.

This potential-limiting condition can be overcome through effective talent management. This practice must be deeply imbedded in the corporate value system, touted by its leaders and enforced by its managers. Note that talent management is not a human resources issue; it's a leadership and management role. Human resource professionals have a part to play, but its not their game.

Sears begins his book with a vital section on the relationship between talent strategies and business strategies. They are inextricably linked; success at one strategy is interdependent with success in the other. It is obvious that attracting and engaging the right talent at the right time is essential.

In my work as a strategic business futurist concentrating on workforce and workplace trends, I have forecasted that the management of this linkage will influence the very survival of organizations. In our book, "Impending Crisis: Too Many Jobs, Too Few People," we sounded a wake-up call for corporate leaders about the severe shortage of skilled labor coming in this decade. A major part of the solution---to avoid extinction---is talent management, and Sears teaches the process in his book. There is a clear and powerful congruence between anticipated challenges and recommended solutions.

Sears addresses how to build, deliver, and measure talent strategies in the second section of "Successful Talent Strategies." From his perspective as a consultant with significant experience in the human resource field, explains, with ample examples, just how talent management works. Charts and graphs illustrate the journey, with the message continually connected to corporate strategy. The message is that talent strategy is driven by corporate strategy. The acquisition and application of talent, inside and outside the organization, enables leaders to achieve desired results.

This insightful how-to book will take some concentration to read and "get." Not every leader nor experienced human resource professional will be able to fully immerse and gain the considerable value of this book. But that's what separates people who make things happen from those who wonder what happened. The convergence of trends will move us along at an increasingly rapid pace. If you want to be one of those who makes things happen, by understanding, developing, and applying cohesive strategies, read this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars David Sears is a brilliant man., September 17, 2004

By 

L. Nedelman (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Successful Talent Strategies: Achieving Superior Business Results Through Market-Focused Staffing (Hardcover)

After reading just the very first chapter, I knew that this author had talent in addressing the business skills of today's world. I was truly inspired by his ethical usage of business plannign and skills. His market-focused staffing theories were brilliant. A top read!