Misplaced talent – A guide to better people decisions

Author: Joe Ungemah


Publisher: John Wiley & Sons


Reviewer: Cusack Gordon, MD, Leisuresec

Talented people. Without them, most businesses are no more than laptops, desks and phones. No matter how innovative and dedicated you are, without talented people around you, you’re likely to be on a short and unfulfilling journey. But simply surrounding yourself with talent is like booking a host of stars and celebrities – without guidance you still can’t expect much of a ‘show’.

‘Yeah, yeah’, you say – ‘that has always been the case.’ And author Joe Ungemah would agree. That’s precisely why he’s written this book – because (he argues) talent management relies on outdated theories and practices that need bringing up to date. Ungemah is a psychologist and behavioural scientist who has spent his career using psychological insight to drive real world improvement.  

So this isn’t long on theory and short on practical applications. The language is straightforward rather than too academic, and it doesn’t reject the past. Rather, it sorts through the tools and techniques developed over the last century to examine their true relevance to the modern workplace, highlighting activities which show the greatest potential to improve the lives of employees and the organisations they work for, as well as identifying which practices don′t really add enough value to be worth the expenditure of time, money and, potentially, lost talent.

The author believes that most hiring, promotion and development decisions are based on fuzzy logic, trendy ideas, or outdated frameworks. Yet Misplaced Talent doesn’t preach – the author asks you to make up your own mind about which approaches work best for your own specific talent decisions, but provides the best theory and practice as a foundation for you to refocus and redesign your own strategy so as to make better people decisions.

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