I am usually cautious with books about Talent Management. What makes this one interesting and valuable is that the authors do not pretend to reinvent the wheel. And it's relatively short: 150 pages. Which is great.

A new metaphor: Talent Liberation

The metaphor and principles they suggest are helpful, and their claims have the merit of questioning our practices of Talent Management.

Indeed shifting from Talent Management to Talent Liberation opens up a different set of perspectives.

"Talent isn't scarce. It's our ability to set it free that is in short supply."

Overall structure

The book is structured into 3 main parts. The context for Talent Liberation contains a short review of practices, a piece on the future of work, and a deep dive into the Talent Liberation metaphor. The metaphor is built around 5 principles (e.g., Talent is not as scarce as we think, or Formal processes are only part of the answer).

They then quickly move into the Talent Liberation practice, backed up by their Talent Compass framework. It's meant as a tool to navigate the talent system in the organization. They explore the different roles.

The third part is packed with a toolkit and resources.

Bottom line

A good combination of new perspectives and existing stuff reads quickly and is packed with good tools and resources. An invitation to not just copy what others do but rather to think about what makes sense and is fit for purpose.

Learn more about Talent Liberation here

Buy it