THE 'BRIC' TALENT MATRIX: CHRSYALIS NOT A CACOON [http://hbr.org/2008/11/winning-the-race-for-talent-in-emerging-markets/ar/1]

Hats off again to Harvard Business Review for its winter 2012 edition regarding talent management, 'Talent: How to Find It - How to Keep it'. And there could not be a more appropriate and timely topic.. _____ The article that really struck me, among the outstanding contributions, was "Winning the Race for Talent in Emerging Markets" co-authored by Professors Douglas A Ready, Linda A Hill and Jay A Conger. (A lot of A's there!) Though reprinted from HBR's November 2008 edition, the article remains remarkably prescient. This is only a short post, for it is unecessary (pleonastic is the literary term, I think) to add to the authors' excellent summary approach to conducting talent management in the BRIC countries. A few points may, however, suffice preparatory to reading this wonderful article. _____ Ready, Hill and Conger negotiate the emerging markets' talent matrix by focusing on four cardinal points: purpose, brand, opportunity and culture. Whereas the authors label this matrix a Framework, I see the four-point framework as a foundational 'true north' compass to engaging with the region with the rapidly shifting, and evolutionary trajectory, of BRIC emerging market potential. Drawing on examples from HCL, a software company and Standard Chartered Bank, the authors emphasise the power of an energising brand unified with an elevating global mission. As Liu Chuanzhi of Legend and Bill Amelio, current, CEO of Lenovo, China attest, in another instance, Lenovo offers a 'stage without a ceiling for every employee' in what was once an impoverished and financially undernourished region. Similarly, TCS Iberoamerica, a $160 million Tata consultancy unit in Uruguay represents the cutting-edge confluence of brand and opportunity for a "glocalised" workforce ( my interpellation). TCS's star platform is its Project Arogya, led by Olivier Jarry, providing health care and education to Uruguayan villages. As Jarry notes proudly, 'We provide a source of revenue for local talent working with us on the ground. We are helping local doctors and pharmacists. This is a tremendously exciting mission' {Emphasis added}. _____ Hence all-in-all, a wonderful blueprint for emerging market (and general) talent management. If I had to add my own short gloss to their effort, however, I would highlight the potential for "reverse mentoring" in Ready et al.'s true north compass. As the authors suggest, this will very much take global companies to the next level of 'promises made, promises kept'. In order to fulfill the long-suppressed potential of emerging market candidates in BRIC markets, corporate headquarters will profit immeasurably from sincere alignment to emerging market cultures. Our top business leaders, both senior and middle management, must not be above learning from our new BRIC colleagues and their increasingly crucial perspectives regarding global talent development and engagement. The bottom line, here, is ever more in view.. _____ Thus Katherine Tsang, CEO of Standard Chartered China asserts: '{These] challenges forced us to tell the SCB story with passion, but to make sure that our culture and management practices matched that story in an honest way'. _____ So, adding to that story, the authors do a phenomenal job of relating the talent 'promise' and key to accomplished success in our emerging global economy. What an exciting story that is, and yet could be............ :-) !