In July 2002 the New
Yorker published an article called TheTalent Myth by Malcolm Gladwell. In this article Gladwell explores the
shortcomings of a widely recognized management system put forward by a
management-consulting firm called McKinsey & Company who advocate a
three-tiered management process known as differentiation
and affirmation. In this process of differentiation and affirmation
employee performance is rated resulting in each employee being placed in one of
three categories A, B, and C. The A’s, or talent group, are to be challenged
and given generous bonuses as well as new tasks, new responsibilities, and new
titles. The B’s are to be encouraged and affirmed, whereas the lowly C’s need
to be let go.
The Problem… or Problems
There are a couple of
flaws in this way of thinking that seem obvious. First, is that managers are
encouraged to engage employees to do what the employees want and not what the
employees are good at or have experience doing. Another flaw, which Gladwell
points out, is that companies who are prisoner to the talent myth often move
employees into new jobs with greater frequency than companies that are not tied
to the same mindset, often spending less than a year at a particular job within
the company. The result is that one employee’s range of responsibilities is
changing so frequently that it becomes impossible to judge true performance.
Lastly, there is little
correlation between a person’s IQ and job performance. The reason for this is
the fact that IQ doesn’t measure a person’s competency to what Gladwell calls
“tacit knowledge”. For Gladwell, it’s the difference between a school environment,
where everything an individual is rated on involves working by themselves
(writing an exam or an essay), versus a corporate environment where virtually
everything is accomplished by coordinating many individuals around a singular
goal.
Let the System Shine
It was McKinsey &
Company’s belief that the best and most successful companies were those that
adopted the talent mindset – the belief that the intelligence of a company was
rooted in the intelligence of its employees. Successful companies were those
that went out of their way to seek what they perceived as talent and that
fostered that talent by molding their company to the interests of their most
talented individuals.
As Gladwell points out,
some of the most successful companies were those where the system, not its
employees, was the star. As Gladwell writes:
“The talent myth assumes that people make organizations smart. More
often than not, it’s the other way around.”
You Learn More on the First Day
My own experience has
been that no amount of schooling has ever adequately prepared me, or anyone I
know, for what it’s like to actually be out on the job. I’ve heard the old
adage “I learned more on the first day on the job than I did in 4 years of
university” so often that it’s become cliché. Coming out of college labeled as
talent is a great thing and is capable of opening a lot of doors, but talent in
school is only one type of talent.
The people I am
constantly seeking are those that have broader, even hidden, talents. Someone
who graduated from university with less than stellar marks, but did so while
holding down a part-time job, or involving themselves in a bevy of
extra-curricular activities, is just as impressive as an ‘A’ student. Also,
with so much time spent together on the job I tend to try to surround myself
with people who have complimentary talents or people that I genuinely like.
Operating a business, especially a small business, becomes a shared experience
and the people you work with become your family. No matter what might be on their
CV, if everybody in the company is not on the same page, it will not be
successful.
