“Realised capacities are competencies... unrealised ones are potential” Anil Sachdev,

THE MAN WHO STARTED ‘ TALENT MANAGEMENT’ in india, AND GAVE HUMAN RESOURCES A WHOLE NEW TWIST, says EVERYONE is BORN With ‘ CAPACITIES’: you have TO KNOW HOW TO TAP THEM

When I was a journalist with a business paper in New Delhi — in the early years of the new millennium — Anil Sachdev got me interested in HR. HR = Human Resources. In those days, HR was a nascent term in India. Yes, there were HR departments in all organisations, but they were the guys who delivered offer letters, and deducted leave ( when you went on vacation). The raison d’être of managing human capital was always glossed over. Anil was trying to change that — and he did. He founded Grow Talent Company in 2001, which was India’s first “talent management company”, and which served as an HR consultant for leading bigwigs in the corporate sector. And yes, they were the guys who collaborated with Great Place to Work ® for the beginning of the India chapter.

I first met Anil — if I remember correctly, in 2002 — at the Gurgaon office of Grow Talent. He had given me a grand tour of the premises of the company he ran, and I was intrigued when he explained the concept of an “office den”; it was a

strategic hiring at the right time.

Do you believe everyone’s got talent, and it just needs to be honed? If so, why? And can you give an example? If not, what happens to those who are “untalented”? Everyone is born with certain “capacities”. These are the capacities to learn, think, relate and act. Based on the opportunities one gets, the encouragement one receives and the efforts taken by each person, competencies are generated. Unrealised capacities are “potential”. Realised capacities are competencies in action. The ones who are born