Agile Talent

Google and Intel use experts in social science and biomechanics to assess how people think about and use technology. JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Credit Suisse use astrophysicists as “strategists” because of their expertise in big data sets like commercial mortgages. Campbell’s Soup and PepsiCo use anthropologists to more deeply understand customer tastes and preferences. Munich RE and AIG use experts from all different kinds of fields to better assess risk.

These companies are gaining competitive advantage through a new capability—strategic use of experts—made possible by technology and the globalization of talent. Managers understand that lean, agile, and fast business strategies require that they think in new ways about accessing and leveraging (and not necessarily owning) key strategic talent and filling critical gaps in strategic capabilities. As managers increasingly look to nontraditional sources of strategic talent and experiment with fast, flexible ways of engaging them, they need a road map.

Agile Talent delivers the new road map for managing external, expert talent—showing how to assess, choose, attract, develop, and support these new kinds of talent. Authored by two veterans in talent, leadership, and strategic HR who teach and consult widely around the world, the book reveals how companies such as Apple, Uber, Airbnb, Google, IBM, and Bain Capital organize and manage new forms of talent in new ways. Supported by survey data and packed with tools and templates for applying these ideas, this book is the ultimate guide for winning the next war for talent.