I spoke to Dr. Dave Ulrich about Talent, a formula for success. There are as many definitions on the word “Talent” as many organizations are out there.

According to Dave there are four ways to define Talent. One; C-suite executives, Talent is about building succession, to make sure you have the next generation of leaders, tailoring development experience for the leaders so they work well as a team.

The second level of talent is the senior leadership group within the company; not the C-suite but the group below that, what it’s called the “leadership cadre”. For them the organization must build a leadership academy where there is a leadership brand they buy into.

The third level of talent are the high potential individuals- those who have the change to lead the company and set the agenda for the future. They are defined with 4 A/s

• Ambition
• Agility
• Ability
• Achievement

For those individual must be a tailored individual development program in place.

The fourth level of talent filters all the way through the company. They have what we call the “talent formula” – good talent anywhere in the company is who are

• Competent – able to do the work
• Committed – willing to work hard
• Contributing – they find meaning from the work they do

Listen to the entire podcast below, covering additional issues on leadership succession, the role of HR:

Download the related whitepaper: Dave Ulrich – Norm Smallwood – What is Talent