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Brief Highlights

Job descriptions should never be about tasks, which are arbitrary inputs, but rather about outcomes and results, which allows high performers to initiate new ways to achieve dramatic results. No good people belong, or are comfortable in, a box.

As in sports, the “best available athlete” is more important than finding someone for a specific position who is limited to that role.

In our experience, most people are “putting in time” versus exercising their talents on the job due to bad bosses.

Recruiting is like the dating game. If you know what you’re looking for, you’re likely to find it within your desired time frame. If you don’t, then you’ll spend a lot of time and money playing the game with unsatisfactory results.

Many organizations make the fatal error of entrusting talent acquisition and development to human resources.

The more people exercise their talents on the job, the more they feel motivated, and the more people will be attracted who want to exercise their talents… If someone has a talent, everyone is better off if it can be expressed at work.

Hire for culture fit versus skills and experience. Culture fit trumps skills and experience every time. Spend more time recruiting and less time firing.

Chapter 5: The Semi-Renewable Resource

Why does talent move?

1. Lack of job satisfaction needs being met
2. Generational clashes
3. Life balance clash
4. Technology clash
5. Career plan clash

Chapter 6: Talent Is Attracted, Not Recruited

1. If people aren't happy, they'll talk.
2. Don't delegate employee engagement to HR.
3. Compliance does not lead to results.

Pay and benefits don't win the attraction game.

The 12 Questions

1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
3. Do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
5. Does my supervisor seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7. Do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission of my company make me feel my job is important?
9. Are my co-workers committed to quality work?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
11. In the last six months, has someone talked to me about my progress?
12. This last year, have I had opportunities to learn and grow?

Chapter 8: The Process of Retaining Talent

1. Get connected to people (the single most important retention strategy).
2. Give people learning and growth opportunities.
3. Reward and recognize for contributions.
4. Provide career certainty for top performers (letting people know they are on the succession plan is a critical retention strategy).
5. Create variety for top performers.
6. Make people feel significant.

Emotional Connections

People stay when they feel connected to the CEO, their bosses, and peers. People likely to stay longer if they have great mentors.

Chapter 9: The Aerodynamics of Leadership

If you have the right person for your strategy, it will serve you to wait for him. It's a good idea to grant sabbaticals to retain top talent that might otherwise burn out.

Always clarify who owns the decision. Explain how decisions are made. Hold people accountable and don't accept rebellion.

A leader who micro-manages creates a legion of micro-managers below. The entire benefit of winning the talent wars is that you should never have to micro-manage. What NOT do do:

1. Tell people to stop thinking.
2. Tell people what to do or how to do it.
3. Hoard all decision-making.
4. Focus on details instead of the big picture.
5. Focus on perfection, not progress.