Talent Leadership: A Proven Method for Assessing and Developing High-Potential Employees is written for leaders of HR, talent management, OD/MD professionals, and the vast population of operating managers who are charged with identifying, managing and developing high-potential and emerging leaders. Talent Leadership is a research- and empirically based book that uses my Stealth Fighter Model as the foundation for explaining the predictive relationships that exist between an organization’s leadership assessment and development practices and their achieving ultimate operating success.

As you read this book, you will learn about organizations that excel in:

1. Using assessments to benchmark current and future executive talent.
2. Leveraging accurate assessment data in the form of targeted development through the use of coaching and other means.
3. Understanding the difference between performance and potential, accurately differentiating talent on both, and achieving significantly greater operating results as measured by EBITDA, net profit, and other critical operating metrics.

This book contains the best of what I have learned in my 30 years as a human capital and leadership consultant, executive coach, and industrial psychologist. I have included a number of best practices, case study examples, authoritative research, practical assessments, as well as a variety of practical tools and models to equip you, the reader, with the knowledge, skills, and passion to become superior HR leaders who are acknowledged and respected by their operating peers as critical drivers of operating excellence.

The Essence of Talent Leadership

Organizations that excel in leadership assessment and development create a culture in which current and future leaders continuously develop:

• Capability: The competencies and skills to execute—the can-do
• Commitment: The passion, drive and motivation to execute—thewill-do
• Alignment: The degree of “connectedness” a leader has to the strategic mission and vision of the organization—the must-do

Great leaders, by virtue of their Capability create, in turn, a culture for their employees and teams in which they become more Capable, Committed, and Aligned. These three magical elements are called Leading Indicators; they predict operating results. Therefore, it is vital that organizations measure, calibrate, and recalibrate their current and future leaders on these Leading Indicators and leverage this calibrated data and information using executive coaching anddevelopment.

In reading this book, you will learn to:

• Understand and articulate the numerous internal and externaltalent management challenges your organization encounters.
• Understand and articulate the relationship between the relative strength of your leadership assessment and development practices and your ability to successfully combat any internal or external challenge.
• Understand and articulate the predictive relationships that exist between leadership assessment and development systems and practices; key leadership Leading Indicators; individual and team performance; and ultimate operating metrics.
• Establish a common language, vocabulary, and set of principles for establishing a powerful talent management mindset and culture in your own organization.
• Understand and apply the skills and techniques that will enable each HR and operations leader to excel in the execution of superior leadership assessment, coaching and development practices, and systems.
• Understand and apply the skills that will enable each HR and operations leader to better calibrate leadership performance and potential.
• Understand and apply the Psychodynamic Model of Executive Maturity (the Enneagram) as an important foundation step for identifying a leader’s predominant leadership style and level of executive maturity (the key to engaging in powerful coaching conversations).
• Understand and apply the principles of assessment data integration—connecting the dots and aggregating compelling assessment data.
• Understand and apply the principle of coaching from the inside out, that is, coaching leaders to understand their inner core values, references, self-concept, and essential “character” as a foundation for driving empowering thoughts, behavior, and winning results.
• Develop and commit to a personal action plan designed to increase each HR and operations leader’s success as a Talent Leader.

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