18 Mar 2019

This is talent disrupted

Our new book explains why a more demanding workforce is making the job of leadership increasingly complex, just as having the right talent becomes critical to success.

The exponential acceleration of pace, driven by new technology, is overtaking our ability, as humans, to adapt. What does that mean, not just to finding them, but attracting and retaining them too?

To find out, Odgers Berndtson conducted face-to-face interviews with 70 APAC leaders of big-name, highly-successful global companies, across multiple industry sectors. Companies with a combined revenue estimated at over a trillion dollars. There were also a handful of CEOs of global companies, who had moved their HQs to Asia.

The results were very revealing, and we’ve gathered them into a new book called ‘Leadership, Disrupted’.

New demands

We heard that talent is very different today. This new generation seeks a more personal and direct connection with their employer. They expect a purpose and place in society that is bigger than the bottom line.

Also, they expect an employer to invest in their professional development, so they can move ahead faster than traditional business models can manage or even contemplate. They also want a direct connection with the leadership. Undeniably, attracting and engaging talent in APAC for MNCs is getting much, much tougher.

“The war for talent has escalated. Our traditional competitors are still there, but now we are competing with well-funded start-ups that don’t have constraints.”

“Young people have high expectations of me as a leader. If I don’t agree with them, they may walk away from the company rather than their idea.”

“Diversity of thought is a big issue for us. The people we need, don’t want to come to the office.”

We learned enough to write a book

Our in-depth interviews identified talent as one of the three common themes that are consuming leaders operating in this disrupted environment. The complexity they face comes from the fact that all three themes are multi-faceted and are all equally demanding at the same time.

We’ve packed our insights and examples into an easy-to-read book. For more detail about the blur of change hitting business and its leaders, and what to do about it, read ‘Leadership, Disrupted’. It’s available for online reading now.