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Global masterclass
People at the heart of
business: McKinsey’s
global head makes an
historic call
Dr Douglas Board discusses
the book Talent Wins: The New
Playbook for Putting People First
by Ram Charan, Dominic Barton
and Dennis Carey (Harvard
Business Review Press 2018).
Profile: Dr Douglas Board (@BoardWryter)
is an executive coach and a senior
visiting fellow at Cass Business School,
City University of London. He is head of
Coachmatch Career Management and
a board adviser to N2Growth Africa.
http://africa.ee-awards.com.
10 JUNE 2018 · HR FUTURE
What stood out for you from this
just-out, 180 page book?
Two facts demand attention. First, given the
business stature of these authors (only Dennis
Carey of Korn Ferry is of the HR tribe; Ram Charan
is a board leader and author on governance, while
Dominic Barton is global head of McKinsey), it’s
rare to find reputations nailed so loudly to the need
for HR to be the equal of finance at the leadership
table. They specifically propose that CEOs should
focus on creating a CEO/CFO/CHRO triumvirate
(‘the G3’), a pattern to be repeated within individual
business units.
Second, the book’s examples demonstrate that a
G3 or close variant is not simply an idea. Prophetic
CEOs have already made it part of transformation
in global companies as different as Marsh, Tata,
Aon and McGraw-Hill. Anyone who has bemoaned
HR’s lack of clout should be making the most of
this once-in-a-lifetime invitation to come to the top
table.
How would you sum up the message
of the book?
Much of this book’s argument is captured in the
two concluding paragraphs on pages 165 to 166):
“Talent is king. But running a talent-driven
organisation isn’t suited for someone who wants
to be king of the castle. It’s not about commanding
people to do things. It’s not about judging who
belongs where in the hierarchy. It’s not about
underlings bringing you problems and awaiting your
decree.