There is no such thing as talent. Mostly.
I hate the word TALENT.
Whenever I hear or read the word TALENT, I think of a pink and white striped circus tent with a bunch of acrobats inside.
Those people are talented. Your operations manager? Not so much.
Yeah, yeah, so she's a really good operations manager. Her employees love her and she runs a tight ship that contributes to the bottom line. I'm not saying she's not a good person, I'm saying it's a stretch to refer to her as TALENT.
TALENT has a face and it's not yours:
- TALENT is a surgeon that makes over a million bucks a year because she's the only person in the country that can do what she does.
- TALENT is an athlete that breaks her ankle mid performance and still scores higher than every other competitor.
- TALENT is an author who sells a bazillion copies of her books, even when she writes a stinker.
Let's call the operations managers, the admin assistants, the software engineers, the HR generalists what they actually are: good employees. They are good employees that would probably be good at whatever job you taught them to do because they are
- Thoughtful & conscientious
- Flexible & adaptable and
- Honest, hardworking people
16 comments:
"TALENT is an author who sells a bazillion copies of her books, even when she writes a stinker."
Wouldn't the talented person in that situation be the one who so successfully marketed that stink bomb of a novel?
My husband just said, "Well there's talent and then there's talent."
My mom says I have talent...
I'm with you, TALENT is such an over brokered word! In my line (HR recruitment) of work i use it very conservatively, but that isnt to say that there isnt outstanding talent out there...I can list plenty of talented HR professionals.
To be fair I have also seen some drivel...bizarre also when they are the Heads of Talent for Global Multinationals...Ironic!
Great managers define a talent as "a recurring pattern of thought, feeling or behavior that can be productively applied." -- Marcus Buckingham
Sounds like people good at their job to me
Perrik - No. A Stephen King is a Stephen King because HE is Stephen King, not because of his marketing person.
Laurie - KenRue has got it right!
HRU - That's her job :)
Porteur - I don't like the word "recruitment" either lol
MD - Yes, let's call things by their true names!
Amen. I would also add the best for all this process is called The Draft. Companies scout, applicants dress up, and the companies select which one is the best from the lot. If it were recruiting, the companies would suck up and there would be no interviewing process.
If you're going to replace the word recruiting, and add The Draft, I want to be Mel Kiper and his hair.
Talent is one of those words we use to try to convince ourselves that we're not dealing with people. People are passionate and skilled, but they're flawed and the only way you can get them is with all their emotions and relationships. "Talent," on the other hand, is nice and clean and neat. Problem is that it doesn’t allow for that fact that my friend the wizard chemist and manager has the table manners of a Visigoth. To get the chemist and the fellow who can see around corners, you have to take the fellow you don't want along on a business lunch.
Tracy - It's like performance reviews: horribly messed up at most companies. I recall being asked if I would work holidays DURING AN INTERVIEW once. Hello? That is something you ask on the phone screen, yo. I said, "No, I wouldn't be willing to do that" and watched the interviewer turn a couple different shades of red.
Wally - You managed to use the term Visigoth in my blog. You're awesome! No, really, with your first sentence you hit the nail on the head.
Jenn, I'll second you on hating how the word 'talent' is used. It seems like every day I see that word being used more and more to describe potential employees. Surely they HAVE talent; but ARE THEY talent? Is ANYONE "talent"? The other question is, should people care about talent [in individuals], or is job success more about hard work and motivation in the first place. Surely the "right" person can learn and grow with the right opportunities even if they are not talent[ed].
Amen! It's about time we ditch the word "Talent".
Julien - For most jobs I would say pretty much anyone can be trained to do it & do it well (if you have the time and resources, that is).
HR Chick - Thanks for being a witness from the congregation :)
Jenn –
If we’re going to dump “talent”, can we please get rid of “Human Capital Management (HCM) too? And what was ASTD thinking when they decided to rename training again and call it “WLP”? It’s the kind of stuff that makes our employees and employers just roll their eyes.
Dan - I am all about calling things by their true names. Consider your request granted, yo.
Actually, Wally, historians now reckon the Visigoths were a lot more refined than people give them credit for.
They had been in touch with Roman ways for a long time and by the time they captured Rome, they were quite civilised.
;-)
Strange that Talent is an anagram of Latent... that which lies inside. The jury is out on whether it can make a difference to achievement of organisational goals....I dont think so; nice post.
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