Following Your Talent Hastens Success
KNOWINGAND following your talent is crucial to your success in life. The people with whom you surround yourself in your organisation make or break your success. No one succeeds alone. Those you hire, promote and trust with critical information; the professionals executing your company’s mission are your greatest competitive advantage or the biggest drag. They’re the champions of your company or its substantial drain on time, money, resources and potential.
This is why, many times, entrepreneurs recruit and develop leaders without realising that their hiring choices are random, impulsive, and disconnected to their objectives and strategies. Their choices are not adding value to the organisation. If you feel stumped by bad choices, you are not alone. As the owner, you might be thinking: “How can I turn this company around?” What you need is working knowledge of your talent inventory across your enterprise. Knowledge of your talent allows you to align it with the best strategy. Businesses need creative people and you must have working knowledge of your talent for your company to thrive and make profit.
This column is your field guide to talent management. It is a platform to analyse, implement and improve yourself and your company. Strategic talent management puts you in a position to enhance value, optimise talent, prepare for growth, posture for sale, or transition to the next generation. It endows you with the knowhow, intelligence and control to leverage your team. With the right mindset, and the talent to steer your team towards a win, the only variables should be external conditions. Strategic talent management prepares you for any extraneous factors, because you will have the team ready to compete in any environment.
When a company prioritises strategic talent management, builds bench strength and goes to market with a healthy team, it will increase profitability, attract top talent, create a conducive work environment and bring value to the community. It will also keep the wealth engine in the family or owned by the employees. Thus, strategic talent management provides a new way of managing a company. The Founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg is our case study today. He is one of the billionaire geniuses of the 21st century. His decisions on how he handles his company have come a long way. Our question is: how has he managed to achieve this greatness so quickly? What are the secrets behind his indomitable rise to fame?
The answer is his early goal setting. He dropped out of school to set up his own unique company. He immediately focused on Facebook, and thinking of bigger things. He refused to sell Facebook because he didn’t want it subdued by larger corporations. He correctly envisioned Facebook as a global project. The lesson from Zuckerberg follows. Always start small but aim big. You must have confidence in yourself. Even as a kid, Zuckerberg was considered as a genius in computer programming. Whatever success he achieved, his self- confidence never faltered. He focused on what he is good at. Part of being successful is ability to control the influx of interesting activities which could distract you from your main passion. Zuckerberg was able to withstand distractions.
Zuckerberg’s love for programming outlasted his love for other things. He became so focused on his chosen field that he constantly fended off things that could hinder his progress. He chose not to finish his college education because he knew that his love for computers would suffer if he continued. He moved to a place where he considered a proper venue that could nurture, support and develop his talent. It is noteworthy that he moved to a new community conducive to the achievement of his aims.