Campbell Soup Company and PepsiCo seek advice from anthropologists to understand customer tastes and preferences. Google and Intel engage experts in social science and biomechanics to assess how people think about and use technology.
Companies are gaining advantage through a new capability-strategic use of external experts-made possible by technology and the globalization of talent. Leaders everywhere recognize that "lean," "agile," and "fast" strategies require new ways to access and leverage-without owning-key talent to fill critical gaps. As managers seek nontraditional sources of strategic talent and experiment with fast, flexible ways of engaging these experts, they need a new roadmap.
This book delivers that roadmap. It tells you how to assess, choose, attract, develop, support, and retain your external talent. Authored by thought leaders and bestselling authors in leadership and talent management who teach and consult globally, Agile Talent reveals how companies such as Apple, Uber, Airbnb, Google, IBM, and Bain Capital organize and manage new forms of talent in innovative 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.
"Agile Talent is an interesting read in this emerging business context where cloud sourcing (getting external talent) is now becoming a differentiated business strategy... a practical roadmap for leaders to create conditions for maximising engagement, performance and contribution of external talent."
Businessworld India
"This well-researched book will prove interesting not only to chief executives and HR leaders, but to the many people now operating in the gig economy who will hope that some of its key messages resonate with those who employ them."
Irish Times
"Readers will learn how to make a business case for hiring external talent, orient them to their organizations, offer them professional development, and optimize teamwork between them and permanent, full-time employees."
