Global Talent for Transformation

Published on June 14, 2021

Global Talent for Transformation

How can we identify and develop global talent for high-growth companies? This was one of the Henley Challenges set for our alumni in partnership with Centre for China Management and Global Business. Led by Professor Yipeng Liu our alumni first attended a webinar on Global Talent for Transformation before being split into groups to research and prepare a response to this question.

With the uncertain, disruptive and challenging times that we are in there is fierce competition to attract and cultivate the best talent. Both the Global North and Global South seek to gain the upper hand in boosting innovation and promoting economic recovery, growth and entrepreneurship.

Global talent mobility has fundamentally reshaped businesses and society in both advanced (e.g. Silicone Valley) and emerging economies (e/g. China.) High-growth companies founded by global talent, in particular, contribute to the economic growth by creating decent work and innovation opportunities.

On April 15th three teams of Alumni - named National Grid, Magnolia and Hambleden after Henley’s Greenlands campus – met to present their finding with each group looking at a different sector. Here is just a small summary of the findings of each group.

Kicking off the presentations was National Grid who focused on FinTech. With 20% growth this sector it was clear to our alumni that recruitment needs to ‘move to a seller mind-set’ to attract talent, ‘selling a corporate culture’ with a ‘special offering to attract new talent’ is now an essential part of attracting skilled individuals. On what makes attracting talent unique in Fintech, our alumni found that what was needed more than experience is an individual who is able to learn new technology and is adaptable to change.
Magnolia continued the investigation looking at SME’s and highlighted the need for businesses to be ‘culturally fluent’ and understand that to grow globally you need to understand the mentality of different countries. Someone from Belarus for example may not sell themselves the same way someone from America would and raised the question, how can you adapt your recruitment process to ensure you don’t miss out on talent?
The Hambleden team focused their investigation on Manufacturing and asked how can you assess talent? They proposed that it is important to separate the intellectual “thinking” capacity from the “doing capacity” and reasoned that different roles need different types of people but you need both to thrive. For example Elon Musk is key disruptive thinker and has helped drive the market not just for Telsa, but for whole industry. However if you only employed Elon Musk type intellectuals then you might struggle to deliver the goods.

 

This is just the tip of the iceberg compared to what was discussed in the presentations. Feel like you missed out? Don’t worry, you can watch the recording and download the group presentations here on Henley Live.

Want to be involved in research into Global Talent Mobility? The Centre for China Management and Global Business are looking for high-growth companies to take part in further research.
Please contact Professor Yipeng Liu to make the most of this exciting opportunity.

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