chapter 8

How to kill talent

I find it rather easy to portray a businessman. Being bland, rather cruel and incompetent comes naturally to me.

John Cleese

All stressed out and nobody to choke!

Bumper Sticker

What are the things organizations and managers do that stifle talent, that drive it away, that destroy it and that wantonly waste it? What does managing talent badly look like? We know a lot about how to kill talent but nobody seems to want to address the issue, even though the costs are immense.

Up to now we’ve been talking about how to manage talent well. But because we know that it is not often managed well, what is the flipside of the process? You won’t find a lot written about that. But if you want to be able to identify, develop, ...

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