Leading through unprecedented times - Discussions with talent leaders

What do a board chairman, Major League Baseball manager and US Navy commander have in common? More than you’d expect. In this case, all three are proven talent leaders who, when faced with great obstacles, motivated and inspired their people to resounding success.

Creating Value Through People: Discussions with Talent Leaders (Wiley Publishing; US$34.95) walks the reader through personal and often frank discussions with some of the world’s most captivating and successful leaders. Each chapter presents unique insights from a wide range of perspectives, including those from CEOs of Fortune 500 companies; well-known heads of HR; academics at some of the world’s best business schools; heads of associations and foundations; and other leaders with exceptional and unique paths to success.

In total, 20 leaders provide personal reflections on a variety of topics, including managing and rewarding talent, engaging workers, creating tools to retain top talent and transforming underperforming teams into world-beaters. While their fields and stories are quite diverse, they share a common theme of motivating people to perform to the best of their abilities.

Creating Value Through People includes famed and lesser-known individuals from some of the world’s leading organizations, including: the US Navy, McDonald’s Corporation, Li & Fung Group of Companies, WorldatWork, Case Western Reserve University, Colgate-Palmolive, New York City Department of Education, Tyson Foods, IDEO, The Ritz Carlton Hotel Companies, Genzyme Corp., Continental Airlines, Harvard Business School, Oakland Athletics, Carnival Corporation, Four-D College, Catalyst, Staples Inc., The Wharton School and Starbucks.

Today’s unprecedented times demand the creativity, perseverance and optimism found in abundance among these talent leaders, who without exception see effective talent management as essential to organizational success. As Mercer’s CEO Michele Burns notes in the book’s foreword, “People not only make a difference, they are the difference between one company and the next.”

Success stories, in their words

Mike Abrashoff, former Commander, USS Benfold Commander Abrashoff turned a bottom-performing US Navy ship into the top of its class, in part through daily, personal conversations with sailors, from deck to the deepest bowels of the vessel.	Anne Ruddy, President, WorldatWork Ruddy has extensive experience leading large organizations at the highest level, including one of the world’s leading innovators in human capital, WorldatWork.
John Tyson, Chairman, Tyson Foods The company has implemented an innovative corporate-wide leadership development and talent management system called Talent, Alignment and Optimization (TAO) that is part of management’s efforts to identify and retain future leaders.	Gordon Bethune, former Chairman and CEO, Continental Airlines Bethune, an unlikely choice as CEO in 1994 – his background was in aerospace – spearheaded perhaps the industry’s most dramatic turnaround. He implemented a bonus program for every employee based on on-time performance – and almost overnight, the airline soared from worst to first.
Additional insights
Billy Beane, Vice President and General Manager, Oakland Athletics Major League Baseball Team	Linda A. Hill, Professor of Business, Harvard Business School
Dr. Victor Fung, Group Chairman, Li & Fung Group of Companies	Jan Fields, Executive Vice President and COO, McDonald’s Corporation