I came across an interesting post on the Wall Street Journal site on how ‘Talentism’ is replacing Capitalism. You can read the article here.
The post quotes Dr.Klaus Schwab (founder of The World Economic Forum), who stated at the opening of the 2013 event in Davos:
“Capital is being superseded by creativity and the ability to innovate – and therefore by human talents – as the most important factors of production. Just as capital replaced manual trades during the process of industrialization, capital is now giving way to human talent. Talentism is the new capitalism.”
The author goes on to write:
“Bob DeRodes, executive vice president and chief information officer for Target Corp., agrees. ‘In my 40 years in information technology,” Mr. DeRodes says, “I have never seen the battle for talent more heated than it is right now.” Asked why, he says, “It’s because more companies realize that technology talent is make-or-break in today’s world.’ “
Great business leaders have always understood the importance of Talent. Alfred Sloan, former head of General Motors once famously quipped:
“Take my assets, leave my people, and in 5 years I will have it all back.”
Bottom line:
No matter how well crafted company’s business model is, no matter how brilliantly conceived a company’s Manufacturing process is, they are worthless without the right people to implement them.
Superior talent always wins in the end.