Management Communication Exercise

Three Ways to Recognize a Talent Magnet

By Tsun-yan Hsieh with Anthony Tjan, Source: HBS Blog
(Get ready to time yourself how long it takes to finish this reading while getting its main points)
Talent rules. Changing a business plan is easier than discovering and developing the top talent to
make that change happen. Recognizing this, more and more boards and investors are asking the
question: How good is our leader in attracting the very best talent out there?
Our most recent blog post discussed the six habits of a talent magnet. In it, we shared what we
have learned from watching and talking to the CEOs and entrepreneurs who consistently attract
and retain the very best human capital. This time around, we look at how boards, investors,
employees, and others can recognize such talent magnets when they see them.
Leaders who are exceptional at attracting talent live by the following three principles:

They outrecruit their own competence. The best leaders always surround themselves with
people who are not just equal to but better than they are. Strong leaders will have the inner
confidence in themselves, and their collective team's potential, to not be weighed down by
insecurity about being "shown up." As any athlete knows, you don't improve your game and
team if you play with or against inferior players. If you are on a board, or if you are an
employee, ask yourself: Are the people your leader hires of equal or higher potential than the
leader herself? Are they farther along than the leaders were themselves at their own stages of
development or tenure? As a venture capital colleague of ours once said, A's attract A's and
B's attract C's. (249)
They seek real diversity of talent. Mediocre executives find comfort in similarity, whether it's
a team's social, educational, or philosophical orientation. They end up hiring people in their
own image. Superior leaders risk hiring people outside their usual way of seeing, sensing,
processing, and solving problems. They go beyond their comfort zone to ensure that the
people they attract are not cut from the same mold, and will give them different perspectives.
Do the leaders dare to have people who see things very differently than they would and know
how to handle the diverse views productively? For a recent deal that our firm, Cue Ball, was
reviewing, a partner at one of the top Silicon Valley venture capital firms said, "Listen, we
have the interest of every top-branded VC in the Valley for this deal, but what we need is
someone that will break us from that group-think, and that feels like you." It showed that the
VC recognized that we would have differentiated, valuable, and complementary perspectives
that might better help the company at hand a sign of a talent magnet. (432)
They maintain a holistic view of where the very best talents are in their fields. The best talent
magnets take a very holistic and strategic view of their industry and talent pool. Ask of the
CEOs or entrepreneurs you know: Can you list the best one or two people anywhere in the
world for the handful of jobs in your organization that are pivotal to its performance? Next,
where are these people right now (if they're not already on your team)? Are you in contact

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Management Communication Exercise

with them? In sports, we all know the superstars of all the teams. Why is it that so many
business leaders do not know the superstars in their relevant talent landscape? A top-notch
leader will know and always have the very best talent stars in her sights. She will get to know
them and if they are not with her, work over time to attract them to her team. (587)
The ability to find and keep talent is perhaps the most valuable of all leadership attributes. And
the best talent magnets make clear from their constant actions that their priorities are all about
attracting and retaining the best. In business success, it is always all about people. (651)
Exercise and scoring
How long did it take for you to finish reading the above writing: ___ (Minutes) ___ (Seconds)?
Now take 30 seconds to write down the topic (main idea of the writing) and insights.
Topic: ______________________________
Insights
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Calculate your raw reading speed: words read / time it took (in minutes) ____________
Note: the numbers in the writing itself indicate the cumulative word count up to that point of the
writing
Comprehension % = points / 5 (maximum comprehension % is 100%)

1 point for correct topic

1 point for every insight you wrote down that is in the answer key

Total reading score =

Raw reading speed below 180 words per minute: 180+(raw reading speed180)/comprehension %

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Management Communication Exercise

Raw reading speed above 180 words per minute: 180+(raw reading speed180)*comprehension %

Intellectual property of LinHart Group PTE; all rights reserved.