We’ve been playing with words, images, emotions, icons and so on for some branding work we’re doing on a new offering. Something that fell out of this was a word that I just liked the sound of:

Talentropy

Then I thought a bit more about it – the flow of talent. This seemed like quite a useful concept to me.

As business owners, managers and leaders, there are two crucial concerns – creating value for stakeholders (owners, shareholder, staff, investors, communities, etc.) and finding and keeping good people for our teams. Value and Talent.

Talent is something you can acquire.

It’s something you can lose.

You can heat talent up.

You can cool it down.

One person’s talents can drive and improve an entire team, service or product.

Another person can suck up and consume huge amounts of others’ time, motivation and goodwill for no net result.

What If?

What if we start thinking of talent as a fluid, volatile compound that we need to work hard to keep in our business equations? Perhaps then our plans and commitment to finding the best staff, investing in the best training for those good people, and rewarding their drive, commitment and ideas becomes a clearer business-benefit decision?

Without putting the energy in, talent cools down and migrates outwards, seeking the next energy source.

Good people move on if they’re not getting what they need.

Our challenge: How much talent is in each of our “business chemistries” and how do we recognise and retain it?